Tugger blinked a few times to clear his vision; he had just woken up from a long night. He even had a nightmare. He never had nightmares, the last one he had was when he was a kitten. It was weird, he woke up in a cold sweat and breathing hard, he didn't remember much of it, he only remembered being gently pushed down by a silver tabby that was sitting by his side and he said something to him. Tugger couldn't think of what he said but he did remember falling back to sleep almost instantly.
He looked around when his focus was back completely and lifted his head. It didn't hurt as much as it did the pervious day and his rib seemed better it was only a alight sting as he propped himself up against the many blanket and pillow. He inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. At that moment the blankets at the entrance moved over and Jenny entered.
"Why hello, you're awake." She said walking over to him and smiling. "It's about time we were a little worried, it's after noon you know,thought you might never wake up." She laughed slightly as she looked him over. "So how are you feeling, dear."
"Fine, head hurts a little, ribs hurt a little, legs hurt a little, well, overall everything hurts a little but a hell of a lot less then they did yesterday." Tugger said.
"Watch your mouth; I don't want to have to wash it out with soap. But it's good that you feel better, would you like to try and walk around a bit. I would much rather you stay in bed longer but I know you'll try and run around behind my back and you'll end up hurting yourself more." She said taking off some of the bandages off his chest and redoing them.
"Got that right." Tugger said as he sat up further to allow Jenny easy access to his back wounds.
"This does not look to good back here." She said and Tugger furrowed his brow and he shifted his eyes around.
"What? What's going on? What's wrong?" He asked nervously.
"Just looks a little infecting nothing to serious." She said and applied some antibiotics. Tugger winced and hissed slightly closing his eyes tight. "Oh don't act like a kitten, and don't hiss at me!" She scolded.
"You're not the one getting their back burned off." He moaned and the blankets at the entrance moved over showing Munk enter the den.
"Hey," he said and looked at Tugger in obvious pain. "What's going on in here?"
"Help, Munk, she's killing me." Tugger managed to get out.
"Oh he's just being a kitten, some of his back wounds got a little infected." She explained and applied some more.
"Hehe," Munk laughed at his brother and sat down on the bed next to him. "Stick it out, the sooner this is over with the sooner you can get out of here. And I know you want that."
"There, done. Now that wasn't so bad now was it?" she asking putting new bandages on to protect the wounds.
"I would rather be back in Macavity's hold." Tugger said acidly as he sat up straight. "So can I, ya know, leave now?"
"No, Tugger!" Jenny said turning back to the tom. "What have I told you? No leaving until you are fully recovered."
"Well actually I came to talk to you about that." Munk said looking at the both of them. "Jerrie and Teazer just came back, they said that they saw Tugger's humans looking at new cats in a shop. If he doesn't get back soon, he may have to deal with another cat there."
"What? Nooooo…" Tugger wined, "I don't want to have to deal with some kitten."
"You deal with them everyday here, why would it be such a bother at your home?" Jenny asked.
"Because it's my home, ya bring in some kitten and they'll strut around like they own the place, I know I did." Tugger said. "My home is a place where I can get away from the annoyingness of the kittens and such, if there was one there that would be horrible."
"I guess it may not be that bad,maybe you two could get along. You could do the big brother thing for once." Munk said.
"Oh no, no, no, no I don't do the big brother thing, I'll stick with my slot as little brother it's what I'm good at it's what I know." Tugger said shaking his head.
"Well, your humans are just looking at them, maybe they'll still wait a while for you to come back." Munk said shrugging.
"I hope they wait…" Tugger said. "No offence to all the cats who don't have humans, but I really don't think I could live that life I mean come on, pampered when you're there, free food and bed. What's not to like?"
"Pampered? You get pampered?" Munk asked.
"Well not in the sense of them picking me up and groping me because I would scratch their eyes out, but ya know I enjoy getting petted behind the ears ever now and then." Tugger responded.
Jenny smirked and quietly slipped out of the den without them noticing as not to disrupt their conversation. Munk sighed and looked at Tugger lying on the bed for several seconds before Tugger got board of Munk staring at him.
"What…?" He asked looking Munkustrap up and down. "What'd I do?"
"Nothing, come on, I want you to try and walk for a bit."
"Heviside, you're actually letting me try and recover fast without going through the over protective thing?" Tugger said and Munk walked over and help him up with one arm around his shoulders.
"Well I want you to get well fast and I also want you to get back to your humans before they do get another cat, it would probably be good for you to have someone around when you're not in the 'yard, but I know you don't want that…" Munk said.
"Thank you." Tugger said. "Jenny said I could probably try and walk today anyway."
"Okay, so now you're standing." Munk said as he got Tugger positioned but he was still leaning heavily on Munk.
"Not really, I have almost all of my weight on you." Tugger said looking to his brother.
"Really? Wow, you are light, you have to eat more." Munk said and Tugger shrugged. "Alright, I'm gonna let go."
"Fine by me."
"You ready?"
"Yes."
"You sure? I don't want you to fall on your butt."
"I'm sure just let go, I can stand on my own."
"Here we go."
"Just let go already."
Munk let go and Tugger's legs immediately gave away under him and he collapsed to the ground yelling 'crap'. "Tug!" Munk cried as he caught his brother. "I asked if you were ready. Why didn't you tell me you weren't?"
"I thought I was." Tugger said glumly.
"So obviously you aren't ready to stand quite yet, maybe you just need to slowly get to do this. Maybe just every now and then take a little weight off at a time." He suggested.
Tugger pouted, he hated not being able to do things on his own. It was great when he was faking it or it was all just pity. But when he really couldn't do something, it was horrible.
After about fifteen minutes of helping Tugger walk around the room, Munk put him back down on the bed. Even though Tugger would never admit it, he was exhausted. "Well I think we made some progress." Munk said trying to shed light on things.
"Shut up." Tugger said tiredly.
"Alright then, just don't expect to be able to do everything you could do before right away; you still have a lot of healing to do." Munk said trying to encourage him.
"I know… I know…." Tugger sighed but then a smile crept on his face. "Come on, lets take another go at it, the sooner I can walk the sooner I can charm the ladies with my all powerful hip shaking talents."
Munk smiled and for the rest of the day he helped Tugger move around and by the end of the day Tugger was able to stand and take several steps on his own without being supported. Jenny came in later that night and asked what they were doing all day, but the boys played it cool and simply said they were talking, which wasn't a total lie.
AN: As much as I really hate to say this and I do this in all my stories to warn people, I'm pretty sure that the next chapter will signal the end of this story. Sorry. I might put up an epilogue but that's just a maybe. But this is not the end of my CATS fics, I am seriously considering doing a Harry Potter/CATS crossover. So if you like Harry Potter look out for that. Yes it will be an odd story. But anyway back to this, I thank all my reviewers: Quaxo Mistoffelees, Puddycat, and Mistofey. Thanks again and I'll see ya'll next time!
