Chapter 2: Home and Laughter

Bee's shut eyes opened when she felt the familiar sensation of the portal opening. The twenty-something year old watched as she and her friend slowed down tremendously for a moment. The gravity situated them and then continued their drop to her couch.

"Ouch!" Bee's chin connected roughly to Puppycat's shoulder when the back of his head hit the arm of the sofa.

Puppycat's hand grabbed a fistful of her green sweater shirt as he hissed lowly in pain. Then rubbing the nape of his neck, he raised up a little only to have Bee hold on tighter to his upper arms.

/Bee? Are you alright?/ he asked.

Her little hands balled up against his now tanned skin, and she began to shake.

/Hey!?/ he said loudly, beginning to freak out. /What's wrong?/

Bee lifted her face and Puppycat gulped. She had tears streaming down her red cheeks.

"You-you-your body, your body Pup-puppy-puppycat," she hiccupped and burbled. "Your-you're not a, a cat any-more-more."

His lips drew into a sharp pout and he turned his head away from her snotty, tear face.

/I wasn't a cat. That wasn't me. I was in the body of a monster./

"A Cute Monster!" she yelled in a woeful voice.

He looked upset at that, but took a deep breath and then gently took her hands off him and let her wipe her eyes and nose sloppily.

/Bee…/ he started in a low voice.

"I thought you died…" she interrupted.

His eyes widened and he looked at her confused.

"You… you died…" she hicced. "You-you almost… d-d-died."

After a slight hesitation, he pulled her hands away gently from her face. He looked at her tears and clear snot with a strange expression, but let his softened eyes give away his feelings.

/I'm not dead./

Bee's bottom lip quivered a bit as he went on.

/I'm not dead,/ Puppycat repeated, /thanks to you./

She watched as heat pooled in his cheeks to lightly dust him pink. She sniffed loudly and rubbed her eyes quickly with her forearm before hugging Puppycat. The alien sat there unmoving and waited until she mustered up the strength to say "you're welcome." His fingers twitched and he slowly raised his hands to wrap around her waist to return the gesture.

A knock at the door snapped him out of the moment though.

Bee raised herself off of her friend and got up slowly. She winced a little and Puppycat almost reached over to pull her back to the couch, but she walked out of reach and immediately went to the door.

He sat there, a bit confused and flustered with himself towards his actions. Suddenly, he realized that he really was back to normal. Normal, but different. The alien looked down at his hands that were about to hold his friend just moments ago. Raising the left one, he studied the features that had alluded his sight for years.

/I'm back…/ he thought.

"Hey Deckard."

Puppycat bristled and clenched his hand into a fist when he heard who was at the door.

Bee looked at Deckard with a blissful expression, happy to see her friend.

"Hey, um, good aftanoon," he replied with a little tongue wrenching. "Ah, I was wondering, if you weren't too busy, if you'd like to come over for dinner? Cass is working late, and she won't be able to eat her portion, so- so the food doesn't go to waste, would you like to eat with me?"

Her eyes brightened and her surprise turned into elation. "Oh Deckard! I'd love to come-"

/-But she can't. Bye./

Puppycat pulled her back and closed the door, but not before seeing the startled look on the young man's face as it shut. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

"Puppycat! That was so rude!" Bee reprehended him. She reached for the knob, ready to apologize, but Puppycat caught her arm and looked at her sternly.

/You can't go./

"Wha? Why not?!"

/You're hurt./

"I'm also hungry. Plus, Deckard was nice enough to invite me over. And you," she told him, jerking her arm back, "were super rude! You don't do that to friends."

He looked appalled at the short, stubborn woman who ignored his protest and opened the door to a reveal shocked and still wide eyed Deckard.

"Uh, sorry about that. Yes, I'd like to come eat dinner with you."

After telling him her answer, Bee waited for his cheerful response, but was welcomed to silence. Raising a brow, she looked at Deckard and saw that he was staring at Puppycat with a firm gaze. Glancing behind her, she saw that Puppycat was staring back, almost sneering at him.

Confused, Bee asked them both, "Guys? You alright?"

Immediately Deckard responded with another question. "Who's your friend, Bee?" he asked still wide eyed, but now putting on an awkward smile.

"Oh! Yeah, you don't recognize him," she said and his smile faltered a tad. "This is Puppycat. Well, Puppycat before he was a cat."

"I thought he was a dog."

"Cat that smells like a dog, but a dog that kinda acts like a cat?"

/Just say monster,/ he told her in a low grumble.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Deckard asked not understanding Puppycat. He then shook his head and told them never mind. "I think I have enough food for the three of us. If you want to come?"

Puppycat gave a curt nod, frowning, and Bee grinned once again.

"Great! We'll be there in a few minutes."

After saying goodbye to an anxious Deckard, Bee closed the door and half-hobbled back to the couch with Puppycat following closely. She flopped on the sofa cushions and crossed her leg over the other to rub her ankle. Puppycat watched intently as her tiny fingers pushed in slow circles over the sore muscles. He stood there, mesmerized by the action, and then, moved his gaze to look at her face. Her lips were slightly parted, tongue pushing against her top teeth. He swallowed subconsciously.

He went before her and knelt down. Bee looked up and blinked. Puppycat paid her no heed and took her foot into his hands. He started doing the same motions he saw her doing, but added something extra.

"Hey Puppycat, that tickles," Bee told him wiggling.

He ignored her and continued to focus. Then she jerked and pulled her foot up on the couch.

"What was that?!"

He eyed her warily, wondering if it worked. Bee breathed a little faster, trying to calm herself and cool down from the shot of blinding heat that had ran through her body. She grabbed her ankle and rubbed it a little. When she felt no pain, her face showed her obvious surprise.

"My ankle is better!"

Puppycat closed his eyes and gave a relived sigh. He opened his eyes and looked at the elated Bee who was inspecting her foot with absolute wonder.

/Listen, I want to talk to you about what happened on our assignment./

She blinked and nodded.

/We'll eat dinner and then I'll tell you what needs to be said./

Bee smiled at that, knowing that even though Puppycat always wanted to be serious and cool, he was like her when it came to food. She stood up with Puppycat and they walked back to the door. She turned the knob and was about to open it when a thought came to mind.

"Puppycat?" she started, "Why don't you get along with Deckard?"

He pursed his lips.

The two laughed mirthfully, and continued on with the conversation.

Because he's too close to you, Puppycat thought, greatly irritated.

He looked at the two for a moment longer before going back to his plate of food and eating. Chewing in frustration, he tried to block the two humans out, but his ears always strayed and ended up listening closely to whatever nonsense that fell out of Bee's mouth.

"Yeah, and I want to learn how to make a casserole all by myself so I can repay him."

"Haha, nice. But I don't think Cardamom likes casseroles. He's really picky," Deckard reminded her.

Bee pouted but went on. "He might like mine though."

"We'd like anything you make, Bee," he encouraged her.

They both blushed and smiled shyly. Puppycat's frown deepened and he made a soft disgusted sound. Deckard looked at him and stopped smiling.

"Ah, Puppycat. Um, do you like the food?"

He blinked slowly. /It's fine./

Deckard slouched. "Bee," he whispered to her, "I still can't understand what he's saying."

"Oh come on," she reprimanded him jokingly. "It's not like he's speaking another language you know."

"I think he is."

Puppycat narrowed his eyes at the two conspicuous whisperers. He gripped the fork in his left hand tighter and almost considered stabbing the table with it. He stopped himself though, when he heard the front door open. Cass dropped her bag and closed the door behind her.

"I'm home, bro."

The three at the table turned to look at the casually dressed woman who walked in.

"Oh, you're here Bee. And…" she hesitated when she saw Puppycat.

Bee saw she didn't recognize him either, so she stood up and began re-introducing.

"Cass, this is Puppycat before he was a dog."

"I thought he was cat?"

Deckard shook his head. "He smelled like a dog."

"But he did act like a cat," Bee told her and Puppycat clenched his jaw.

/Just say monster, Bee,/ he told her curtly, again.

"Uh huh…" Cass noised, unconvinced. "Right, so who is he really? Boyfriend?"

Deckard chuckled nervously and set down his fork, while Puppycat just looked down at his food with a stern expression.

"No," Bee shook her head, thinking it was a joke. "He's really Puppycat."

Cass blinked twice, then shook her head. "Whatever. Hey Deckard, leave me any food?"

"Haha about that…"

"You zit…"

Deckard laughed again and offered the rest of his food which she took grudgingly. Bee moved her bowl over closer to Puppycat who had stopped eating.

"Not hungry?" Bee asked softly.

He looked at her and the other two humans at the table who had decided to loudly talk about the lack of food and mixed up schedules.

/…I've lost my appetite./

[AN: Kind of OOC, but ignore that...]