Chapter 31

Lion-O lay awake, staring at the ceiling of the bedroom he shared with his wife and loyal dog. Ma-Mutt had already curled up on his bed and passed out. Cheetara was in the bathroom; she had decided that she needed a hot shower to relax her. For Lion-O, that usually had the opposite effect, but he would not begrudge his wife for doing something that would help her sleep.

It had been a long day and he should have practically passed out the second his head hit the pillow, still he lay there, in the dark, awake. He heard the shower shut off and rolled over to face the bathroom door. A few minutes later, the cheetah emerged, wrapped in a towel. She had not washed her hair and headed for the closet, looking for some nightwear.

"You can stare at me all you want, but I don't think that will help you sleep," she pointed out, while grabbing her long pajama top. Her husband had rolled over to watch her at the closet.

"I cannot get comfortable," Lion-O said but she doubted that was the reason. She shucked off the towel and threw on her pajama.

"Bed lumpy?" Cheetara asked as she walked back to the bathroom to hang up her towel and turn off the lights.

"No, my brain is," he made a slight joke.

"A lot going on the past few weeks and not a lot of sleep going on in the meantime. Would warm milk help? Or maybe something stronger from the Med Bay?" She was concerned as she shut the lights off and climbed into bed.

"If in the next few minutes, I don't conk out, then we'll go bother Pumyra," Lion-O told her. The cheetah snuggled into his side and he wrapped one of his large arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

"What's rolling around in your noodle?" Cheetara knew her husband too well.

"Why would Snowman not tell us how he ended up alone? He was even hesitant to tell Bjorn," he wondered.

"I would imagine that it would open a lot of old wounds. My guess is that it was probably an illness. It's the only thing I could think of that would wipe an entire race off the planet and not leave a trace. If they had fought with a group of people, it would have been more noticeable, you know battle scars on the ground, or a mass grave, or someone would have it written down in their histories. Willa had no interaction with Snowman before we arrived on this planet. She was having Nada search their histories, but they both doubted that they wouldn't have heard about from their mother," she said.

"I wonder if the peoples were too far scattered and there just wasn't an interaction," Lion-O wondered.

"Could be, but until we get the truth from the horse's mouth, I don't think speculating will help your sleep any. Tomorrow, we begin our ferrying of the Crabmen back to their home. They are no longer in danger now and I'm sure the Unicorn Keepers would rather they go home too. Ben-Gali will be back to work tomorrow, no field duty, but it's better to have him and Ayşegül back on duty in any way shape or form. Panthro and Duygu are on their longer roads to recovery. No one died and we've set another Mumm-Ra atrocity to rights. I'd say, all in all, things are good," his wife pointed out.

"You're right, as usual," Lion-O smiled.

"You know it. Now sleep husband. We have another big day tomorrow," Cheetara kissed the left side of his chin and snuggled a little closer. It didn't take long before her breathing evened out and she was asleep. Lion-O's body had finally begun to argue with his brain and he tried to relax. He started counting sheep, but he only made it to five before he too, was out like a light. There was still work to be done but the future of the planet was much more stable than it had been. They could rest easy for now, until the next challenge confronted them.

The End


A/N: Look out for the new story next week. :) Thanks!