She sat in her chair, knitting needle in hand. The fireplace was lit, and the room was silent except for the ticking of the clock and the crackling of the fire. This was a typical night for Edna, and had been for all of her life. She normally had a cat or two in her lap during these times, but her kittens really weren't lap cats...

No. Not her kittens. They were older now... Gordon, Waffle, and Mr. Blik were her cats, not her kittens. Blik wouldn't have appreciated being called a kitten...

Edna smiled. Blik was always a headstrong, bossy kitten, and he had grown into a headstrong, bossy cat. He was probably suffering from Small Man Syndrome, and the fact that he was first born did nothing to lessen his sense of entitlement. She knew that Blik shouldn't be abusing the power he did not truly possess, but as long as his brothers could take it, it just would not have been the same without Blik barking orders across the house. And Waffle was usually more than pleased to obey...

Waffle. Naive, gullible, eager to please, perpetually happy Waffle. He likely wasn't doing much to help curb Blik's orders, either, since he was always quick to do what Blik asked of him, smiling the whole time in spite of his brother's insults. While Waffle didn't take Blik's insults against his work very well, he took the more personal cracks in stride, never faltering in the slightest due to them. Edna couldn't help but wonder if this would prove to be harmful in the future. He would be far too easy to push around... not like Gordon...

Gordon was the biggest enigma of the three. He remained clung to his distant Scottish heritage and continued insisting that he had a Scottish accent, despite comments to the contrary. It probably would have sounded strange if he went back to his real voice, especially to those who hadn't met him until after he adopted the accent. The voice wasn't the only thing he used to show appreciation for his "homeland"; Gordon had also taken an interest in cooking, and unfortunately for the other inhabitants of the house, he wasn't very good at this. This fact was deadly when combined with the knowledge that most Scottish cuisine required a strong stomach. While no one was ever forced to consume his putrid recipes, the smell of some of the fouler concoctions lingered for hours, sometimes for days. Edna was willing to deal with this for Gordon's sake, but Waffle, Blik, and Hovis all avoided the kitchen until the smell had died. The three were all perfectly willing to have Gordon get them food that did not require cooking and sustain off of that if it meant not having to encounter the stench. However, Gordon's biggest quirk wasn't his obsession with Scotland, nor was it his incredibly low skill at cooking; no, the oddest thing about the lazy feline was also the reason that Edna rarely saw him. When he wasn't in the kitchen and hadn't curled up in a lounge chair to sleep, he was either visiting Kimberly or watching her from the yard, fascinated. He had come to terms with the fact that he was positively enamored with a human girl, and nothing anyone could say would convince him that he should be ashamed of himself. Not that anyone would say anything; Edna and Waffle thought it was rather sweet, while Hovis and Blik didn't really care one way or another. He had gotten comments from others while out therer and sometimes came in upset, but that happened rarely now... nothing could make him believe that he was wrong anymore...

Edna sighed at the thought of her three cats. She may have seen them rarely; Gordon was always cooking or spying on Kimberly, Waffle was obsessed with caring for his newts, of which he now had a whole tank, and Blik was usually off shouting commands at his brothers or Hovis; but things would have been different without knowing they were around somewhere. People were always dragging Audrey back to her home and insisting to Edna that if she was going to let her cat roam, she should get her fixed, but deep down she was glad she never got around to it. She had never had a day in her life when she didn't own a cat, but Audrey was the first she had raised from the time she had been able to leave her mother. After her death, Edna wasn't sure if she would have been able to go without owning another cat, but having any old cat just wouldn't have been the same as raising Audrey's descendants. It may have been miserable having a cat that had no connection to the one she was closest to. What would she do without the boys...?

A thought then crossed her mind, a thought that she should have considered a long while ago. What would the boys do without her? She certainly wasn't young anymore. She lived a long, full life, and she had a feeling that it was coming to an end. The wisest thing to do would have been to start preparing things for the inevitable. She rose from her chair and slowly, weakly, made her way to the library to take care of what she felt was most important.

"Hi, Edna!" For reasons unknown, Waffle had chosen the library as a place to practice his chasing. Apparently, he still hadn't given up on Blik's lessons on how to hunt, even though there had never been a mouse in sight in the whole house; not that he had seen, anyway. He had had Gomez's tail pinned under his paw, but when he looked up to greet Edna, Gomez took that opportunity to escape, running out of the library for another part of the house.

"Hello, Waffle." Waffle watched intently as Edna walked across the room to a box of blank papers. She took one and sat down at the desk, pulled a pen out of a drawer, and began to write. Waffle leaped onto a stool next to Edna's and watched. All was quiet for a few minutes before Waffle decided to speak.

"Edna? What are you writing?" he asked in utmost curiosity.

"My will."

"Ohhhhh." Waffle watched the paper as Edna wrote on it, but for his life he could not understand her overly looped script. Unable to figure out what it was on his own, Waffle decided to ask. "What's a will?"

"A will says who gets my things after I die."

Waffle's eyes grew wide in fear. "Die...? Edna? Edna, are you sick?"

She sighed. "No, but I'm not young anymore... as of now I've lived longer than most people manage. My life's been long enough... I don't feel as if there's anything I wish I could have done before my time came. Waffle... please, keep yourself prepared. I may be healthy, but you saw how quickly your mother went. If the same happens to me, I don't want there to be too much of a shock." Edna put the pen down, gave the will a final reading to make sure she had everything just right, and then folded it and placed it in an envelope. She stood up and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait! Edna!" Waffle called. "Edna, I want to ask you one more thing..."

"Yes, Waffle?"

"What does the will say? Who's getting your stuff?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Days turned into weeks, which turned into months. Edna's health began failing, and over those months she kept going into the hospital and coming back, only to stay for shorter than the last time and go back to the hospital for a longer period than last. Waffle had told his brothers about his and Edna's discussion before, so it wasn't too much of a shock as she worsened, but no amount of preparation could prevent the worry the three cats felt for Edna. She had always referred to Audrey as her daughter, so in a way, this was their grandmother who was dying. Everything finally came crashing down when the brothers eavesdropped on a conversation between Hovis and one of Edna's doctors...

"Mr. Hovis, I'm so sorry that this is happening to you..."

"I have been working for Edna for the past 30 years," Hovis replied. "For as long as she had this house. I still remember when she bought this place with her husband and hired me... I watched him go through this very thing. It's not any easier now, especially since I had so much more time to get to know her..."

"She's decided that she wants to pass here in her home. She'll be brought home for the final time, and then all we can do is wait... there's nothing else to be done..."

The expression on Hovis's face was grim. He gave a stiff nod. "I understand... I'd better alert the cats..."

"We heard." Blik's voice flowed into the room as he stepped in, Gordon and Waffle following closely behind. "We heard everything... it's over, isn't it." This last statement was not a question.

"I'm afraid so..." Hovis sighed. "I must go prepare things for her arrival..." Hovis walked out of the room, leaving the cats behind. The doctor also went with him. Gordon, Waffle, and Blik, however, stayed there motionless. It was all they could do. They remained there for an hour or so, waiting for something else to happen. Gomez had wandered in during this time, and Waffle began stroking him for comfort. Blik seemed a bit too interested in examining his claws, doing this in an effort to concentrate on something, anything else. Gordon ended up nodding off. He jolted awake when Hovis came back. "She's home," he announced. "There's not much time... she would like to see you three as soon as possible." No convincing was needed to get the brothers to shoot down the hall to Edna's room.

They weren't sure what they expected to see when they entered Edna's room, but whatever it was, their eyes were greeted by a completely different sight. Edna looked completely relaxed and peaceful on the bed; it was hard to believe that this was a woman on her deathbed. The contrast with their mother's final moments was incredible. Waffle jumped onto the bed to be by her side. He placed a paw on Edna's chest and looked at her as if to ask "Is it all right?" Edna nodded, and with that Waffle curled himself on her chest. She weakly raised her hand to scratch behind his ear.

"So... how are you doing?" Blik asked, finding it hard to speak.

"Better than I have been, to be honest," Edna said. "I mean... I know I'm not better... but I feel much less sick than I really am. Does that make sense?"

"Not really," was Gordon's response.

"I don't want you to die..." Waffle said, his eyes closed in contentment from the petting.

"Everyone has their time, Waffle... and mine is now. Didn't Audrey tell you about this?"

"Yeah... but..." Waffle stopped dead as Edna's hand dropped to her side. He turned himself around to face her. It appeared as though Edna had fallen asleep, but the beeping from the machine that was hooked up to her said otherwise.

Edna Cramdilly had died.