Trey cared for the young lion cub as well as he could. He had started taking days off of work, telling his boss that he had caught the flu and had even convinced his doctor to sign a sick note for him. Thankfully he had at least another week of sick days if he needed to use them. Trey had spent most of his time trying to teach the young lioness about the human world and research anything he could about Pride Rock, he had checked out several books from the library about the geography of the African savannas, however he was unable to find anything whatsoever. He had even begun to look at live streams of different trail cameras from the savanna to the TV with Nala and asking her if she recognized any of the animals or the locations they saw, but nothing she saw looked familiar to her. He had begun to worry they might never find them when he had young lioness asked him why none of the animals were talking, he had never heard of any animals talking anywhere and couldn't find anything online or in any books about anywhere that would have anything other than a few birds (he had very much embarrassed himself asking the librarian for a book about talking animals, she at first thought he was looking for a fiction book and then thought he was joking when he asked specifically for a non-fiction one). He was very worried about leaving the cub alone, both in case she got herself into trouble and in case someone found out about her. The only time he had felt comfortable leaving was when she was taking her mid morning nap, she was ususally asleep for at least a few hours, so he could leave and come back without her noticing. He had kept his curtains closed almost the entire time she had been there and was only really comfortable letting the cub out into his backyard since that was the only one with a fence high enough the neighbors couldn't see over. Thankfully Nala didn't mind, when she wasn't sleeping or playing with some of the stuff he had gotten her on one of his excursions (a giant ball of yarn and some rope toys meant for dogs, but Nala seemed to like them well enough) she mostly wanted to help him find her a way home.

A week after Trey had found Nala on his morning walk, as they were getting ready for bed the young lioness asked him a tough question.
"Do you think I'll ever get back to my home?" Tears began to form in corners Nala's eyes as she thought about the possibility of never seeing her family again. Trey picked her up and the lion cub tightly, trying to comfort her with his warm embrace. She gently wept, pushing her head into his striped pajama top, trying to unsuccessfully to hide her tears.
"I don't know, but I promise I'll take care of you until we find out. And if for some reason we can't, I promise I'll take care of you until you don't need me to anymore."
He carried her into their bedroom and sat down on the bed, holding Nala close and stroking her fur until she stopped crying. He gently sang to her, he didn't know the words too much, but he decided on some old Elton John songs he knew. She fell asleep in his arms, so he set her down and gently laid down in his bed next to her, pulling her close to him under the covers. He loved having the young cub in his bed, she was incredibly warm, so he didn't need to use his heater at night, and she was very soft. It reminded him of when he was a child and slept with his dog in his bed next to him. Trey fell asleep almost instantly, a smile on his face.

In the morning, Trey woke up before Nala. He quietly got out of the bed, careful not to disturb her, so she could get as much sleep as she needed. He stepped into his slippers and slipped on a hoodie, walking to the kitchen and turning the heat on as he passed the thermostat. He looked at the clock that hung on his living room wall to see what time it was. It read 6:17. Perfect! He thought to himself. He knew the lion cub sleeping in his bed wouldn't be up until at least 8 so that gave him some time to go on his morning walk for the first time in a week. He made himself an egg and then got dressed when he was done eating and washing the dishes, putting on some pants, a shirt and a sweatshirt since it was starting to get colder in the mornings and at night. He checked the clock again, it read 6:40 as he left, so he still had plenty of time. He took his usual route, a half mile to the bike trail and then a mile up the bike trail and back. It felt nice to get out of the house again for something other than the library, but he felt bad that he wasn't able to bring Nala with him, he was sure she was tired of being cooped up in his house. He decided he was going to try and take her somewhere she could run around later on that day and not have to worry about people seeing her.

Trey got back to his house at 7:45, and was surprised to find Nala had already woken up by then. He found her sitting on his couch and watching some early morning cartoon that was airing on TV, seeming to enjoy herself as a song about the alphabet played. Trey was surprised by this as he had shown her how the television remote controls worked but hadn't actually thought she was paying attention to him.
"You have a good time? Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up." Trey took off his sweater and hung it on a hook next to his front door.
"It's okay. I only woke up a little bit ago." Nala ran over to greet him as soon as the song finished playing. He knelt down and scratched the fur on the bottom of her chin, which made her start to purr with delight.
"Do you want me to make you some eggs?" Those had quickly become her favorite breakfast food, she had them every morning she had been her except the first, where she had tried sausage. Nala kind of liked the sausage but the eggs were one of her favorite foods, she liked them boiled and with the shell still on. Trey thought this was weird, especially because she usually just ended up getting bits of shell everywhere, but it was far from the weirdest thing that was going on, so he didn't really pay it any mind.
"I'd love some!" Nala replied. He put some eggs in a pot of water and put them on the stove until they were cooked all the through. He cooled them in a bath of ice water for a few moments before giving them to the cub, so she wouldn't burn her tongue. She ate the eggs voraciously, getting tiny bits of shell all over the floor that Trey knew he was going to have to vacuum up later. They spent the rest of their morning as they usually did, going over various live streams and other info on the African savannas and seeing if any of it looked familiar to the cub, but sadly none of it did. They wrapped things up around 10 AM, as Nala regularly napped around then. She passed out on the sofa next to Trey as he sat there petting her, watching some new program with the volume muted. He gently got up and began to prepare some food, putting it in Tupperware containers and filling a thermos with some hot apple cider. He placed all the food and drinks in a picnic basket which he then carried out to his car, setting it in the passenger seat. He then carried the young sleeping lioness out to his car, trying unsuccessfully not to rouse her from her slumber. Her eyes slowly opened as her carried her out the front door, the change in temperature waking her up a little more.
"Why are you carrying me?" She asked drowsily.
"We're going to go somewhere special where you can play" Her ears perked up at hearing this, and she yawned. "You can sleep while we drive there if you want, I didn't mean to wake you up." Trey gently set Nala in the back seat of his car, pulling a soft throw blanket over her, so she would stay warm while the car warmed up. Trey got in the driver's seat, starting the car before they headed out. Nala quickly fell back asleep to the sound of the engine.

It took them about an hour to get to where Trey wanted. Nala spent most of the time sleeping, only waking up as Trey was turning the car off. He turned around to look at her and grinned at her when he realized she was awake.
"We're here." He said, unbuckling his seat belt and grabbing the picnic basket off of the passenger seat. He opened his door and got out of the car, opening the door for Nala once he had gotten all the way out. The young lioness got out of the car and stretched as she looked around. She noticed it was very different here from where Trey lived. There was a vast pine forest, and she thought she could hear a river in the distance. She couldn't see any buildings or any signs of humans outside of the road behind them and a sign posted on a stake in the ground.
"What does that say?" She asked curiously as she cocked her head slightly.
"Property of BLM. That stands for the Bureau of Land Management."
"Oh... What does that mean?"
"Remember how I told you about how people have this thing we invented called 'Property' where they think they can claim ownership of the land?"
"Yeah." The two of them began walking into the evergreen forest along a trail that was near the car
"And remember how I told you that we can get in trouble if we go on someone's land that isn't out and hasn't given us permission?"
"Yup" The lioness was skipping along behind the human happily taking her time to look at all the stuff along the way. She had never seen so many huge trees. They made her feel very small.
"Well the Bureau of Land Management takes care of most of the property nobody owns. They make sure that nobody is destroying the wilderness and other things like that. But they also let anybody who wants to use that property so long as they don't harm the nature at all."
"Oh. Well that's nice of them." The path they were walking on began to follow a small but fast river, presumably the one that Nala had heard earlier. They walked along the trail for some time, the only sound that they could hear was the rushing water. After a half a n hour of walking they found a nice grassy clearing where Trey decided it would be a good place to sit. He was a spot that looked like it would be in the sun for at least as long as it would take them to eat their lunch and laid out the big picnic blanket that he had brought along with them. They both sat down and Trey began o unpack the food. The first thing he pulled out was Nala's main course, a mix of dark chicken meat, steak and green beans that he had lightly seasoned with some salt, pepper and a bit of lemon. He took the lid off of the container and set it in front of the lioness, who began to eat the food as soon as it was within her reach. He smiled as she scarfed down his food, pulling out a few other containers of food. He had brought a sandwich for himself, just ham, jack and sprouts on wheat bread, which he began to eat as he took in the suns warm rays. When the cub finished her food he took the thermos out of the basket.
"Want some apple cider? It's sweet and hot, I think you'll like it." He poured a little into the lid/cup thing and held it out for her to taste. Nala brought her head close and sniffed, the warm aroma of apples and cinnamon filling her nostrils. She took a small drink to taste it before deciding that she loved it and drinking all of what he had poured as fast as she could. Trey smiled as he poured her some more, filling the cup about halfway. He poured himself a glass of cider and also poured some water in an empty dish he had brought.
"Make sure to drink some water, too. You don't want to get dehydrated."
"What does that mean?" The curious cat asked him.
"It's like getting sick from not drinking enough water." Trey replied as he finished up his sandwich. He then grabbed the final container out of the basket, a small container with a slice of lemon cake in it. He used a fork he had brough along with him to cut the piece in half, setting one half on the lid and setting that on the ground for the lion before beginning to eat his own half. Nala had finished her piece almost instantly and when she asked him if she could have the rest of his piece he couldn't resist and set his container on the ground for her to finish.
"Yay!" The cub exclaimed, licking his cheek before scarfing down the cake. It melted his heart. Trey began to pick up the various plastic containers, putting the lids back on before putting them back into the basket. By the time he had collected the rest of them the lioness had finished all the cake and was licking the container to get the last crumbs of it out. After Nala ran around for a bit and everything was put away by Trey, he folded up the blanket and put it on top of the basket, picked it up and turned to Nala.
"Ready to go home?" The cub nodded in response, and the two of them began their trek back to his car.

As they were getting ready for bed that night a thought occured to the cub. She went into their bedroom as Trey brushed his teeth and got comfy under the covers as she waited for him. She poked her head up when she heard him exit the bathroom, and began purring as he laid down next ot her.
"Trey, I really want to thank you for taking care of me. And for helping me try to get back to my home. It means a lot to me." She gave him a small lick on the cheek as she nuzzled into him. He smiled and pulled her close.
"Of course. It's what anybody should do."

A/N Is this weird? Idk. I'm having a ton of fun writing it though. The most enthusiastic I've been about writing anything I think.