A/N: This story was created by a sudden love of cats and the character Frederick Chilton. It will (hopefully) end up being about Frederick's life as told through his encounters with kittens... so hopefully you are interested in that?
This is rated T for anticipated future chapters as it goes into the show's timeline because we all know that some not so nice things happen to our poor Frederick because of Abel Gideon and Hannibal Lecter, so it should be only for violence then.
All reviewers shall be rewarded with a kitten (this offer is non-refundable). And any suggestions for ideas you have about Fredrick Chilton's life or about kittens that you want in this story are very welcome. I hope you enjoy. (=
Disclaimer: I do not own NBC's Hannibal or Dr. Frederick Chilton (but I do own kittens).
The first time Frederick Chilton realized there was a possibility that he was a cat person was when he was six years old. It was nearing Christmas, and Frederick knew that he wanted something very new and fancy and exciting and awesome for Christmas. Being an intelligent six year old, he had heard of the appeal of cats. Though he mostly knew of them from various pictures on the internet and at school, he had once heard his older brother Dominick mention that his friend Carl owned sixteen cats, and there were so many of them that when you walked in the house you were practically swimming in cats.
Frederick was very interested in the idea that a person could swim in cats, and was eager to find out if cats were really as awesome as his eleven year old brother had claimed. However, when he asked everyone at school if it was possible to swim in cats, his teacher told him that it was impossible and most of his classmates laughed at him and told him you could only swim in water, and one of them told him to be careful that he didn't drown in cats because that would be worse than drowning in water, probably. Frederick frowned at them, but he knew that you could swim in other things, too (he wasn't sure what, but there had to be other things, like tomato sauce or something), and was not dissuaded from his mission.
Therefore, the six year old boy took every chance he could to try and persuade his brother to let him come over to Carl's house with him, while Dominick took every opportunity to deny Frederick's request. Things such as "You're not old enough" or "Get your own friends, Frederick," or sometimes just shutting a door in Frederick's face were the usual responses Dominick gave when Frederick asked to go to Carl's. The boy knew that clearly such a direct approach would not work. So, Frederick devised a different plan, using the superior intellect of a six year old: he decided to ask his mom instead.
"Mom, can I go to Carl's with Dominick?"
His mother looked down at him from the newspaper that she was reading. "I don't know, Freddy, did you ask him?"
Frederick pulled the best disappointed-six-year-old face that he could manage. "He was being mean, he said I can't go because I'm not old enough and I don't have friends, so I'd mess up his friends, but all I want is to see the cats, I won't bother anyone else, and I won't even try to make Carl my friend!" Frederick explained, rapidly, continuing his pouty sad face.
His mother sighed and patted the boy on the shoulder. "Well, I'm sure I can get Dad to take you there while he drops off Dominick, but only long enough to see the cats, okay? Then, you can leave Carl and Dom to themselves."
Frederick smiled brightly at his mother. "Yes, thank you so much, Mom!" He hugged her awkwardly, but tightly. His mission was completed, and he would finally get the chance to swim in cats.
Frederick was buzzing with so much excitement on the car ride to Carl's that he was able to ignore all of his brother's insults and complaints along the way. The whole ride was a blur to him, until he was finally standing in front of the house in which one could swim in sixteen cats. As his father rang the doorbell, Frederick stood still and straightened the front of his shirt, attempting to hide the excitement bubbling up within him.
Immediately when Carl opened the door, Frederick attempted to casually peer behind him into the house, his eyes squinting and head tilting sideways as he tried to identify any pools of cats.
"Carl," Frederick's father greeted. "It's good to see you. I'll pick up Dominick at seven, alright?"
"Yeah, that's good."
Dominick plowed past his father and Frederick into Carl's house.
"Also," his father added, as Frederick was still failing to identify any fuzzy animals from the many people standing in front of him, "Do you mind if Frederick here comes in for a moment? He wants to visit your cats."
Dominick grunted disapprovingly, but Carl agreed. "Yeah, sure, that's cool," he said, stepping aside to allow Frederick in.
"Um... thanks," Frederick mumbled to him as he entered the house.
"Most of them are in the living room right now," Frederick heard Carl say.
As Frederick burst into the living room, he froze suddenly at the sight before him. The room was a fluffy mess. There were cats everywhere. At least three cats were curled upon the back of the large sofa, a large orange fluffy one's paws outstretched partly off the sofa, as if it make awake from its sleep at any moment without warning. Another cat was curled in a ball on an armchair, and yet another appeared to find interest in a mouse toy stuck up on a table, attempting to bat it off the table. The rest of the six cats were all amassed upon the floor, some eating or drinking at the food dish in a corner and others looking around and talking towards at Frederick to discover the newcomer. They were a mass of all colors, and Frederick could make out the fluffy colors of black, white, grey, brown, and orange, among other stripes and variations.
Frederick smiled dumbly as an orange tabby cat rubbed on his leg, and promptly decided that is was defiantly the best moment of his life so far. He stroked the cat that nudged his leg and the cat purred happily in response. Frederick felt his face hurt from grinning more widely as he blissfully walked forward in the room filled with cats, as they all gathered around him, seeking his attention. Frederick felt many of their furry faces collide with his legs, as he reached out to touch as many of them as he could.
Suddenly, a larger grey cat head-butted him, and Frederick moved backward slightly, only to trip over another standing behind him. The small boy fell backwards onto the carpet, and immediately fell a small white cat's cold nose press into his cheek. He giggled slightly at that, as another cat climbed upon his chest, and yet another's head rubbed into the right side of his face, its ear poking into Frederick's eye. Frederick wiggled away slightly, with no success, as another grey tabby attempted to sit on his face, only to resort to licking Frederick's nose, its tongue feeling rough and ticklish.
Frederick smiled and laughed uncontrollably as he lay sprawled out upon the carpet with fluffy cats on all sides of him and on top of him. He was drowning in cats, but his classmate was wrong; it wasn't dangerous. It was absolutely the happiest feeling that Frederick had ever felt in his meager six years of living, and he would later continue to remember this moment for all of his adult life. He wanted to stay lying on the floor with cats on top of him forever, as they rubbed their furry faces into his own, their whiskers ticklish as they brushed softly against his skin. It was a perfect moment that Frederick wanted to stay frozen in forever, and he heard a soft mewing that signified that the cats probably agreed.
Frederick knew then what he wanted for Christmas.
After the cat swimming incident, six-year-old Frederick Chilton took every opportunity to notify Santa and his parents that he needed a kitten for Christmas. He practiced writing letters neatly to Santa every day, careful to form each letter so that the words were clearly legible, so that there would be no mistake that what he wanted was a cat and that he required no other gifts besides this. He also took every opportunity to mention to his parents that he really liked cats, and would be very happy if he got a kitten for Christmas, and would never ask for anything besides that ever again if he got one. Frederick even gathered up the courage to sit on the Santa's knee at the mall to tell him that he wanted a kitten, and he only stuttered slightly when he spoke to the mall Santa.
Even after all his preparations, Frederick was nervous when he crawled into his bed on Christmas Eve night, and he found it very difficult to fall asleep, as he wondered whether all his hard work would actually pay off and if he would wake up to a kitten sitting beside his tree. He was finally able to fall asleep only after remembering what it felt like to be drowning in sixteen cats.
At about 5 o'clock in the morning, Frederick Chilton glared at the clock as if it had personally offended him, because he had spent the past few hours slipping in and out of an excited half-sleep, and it seemed as if an eternity had passed, though it had only been a few hours. He resolutely pulled the covers off himself, deciding that 5 o'clock was close enough to morning, and he would just have to go into the living room by himself rather than wait for the rest of his family to wake up. He padded quietly across his room and carefully opened his door, so he did not wake up anyone else in his house. Then Frederick tiptoed his way across the hallway and down the stairs, careful not to trip on any stray object that his brother had left lying on the floor. When he reached the bottom of the stairs that led to the living room, he stared at the Christmas tree wide-eyed, noticing that many colorful packages had appeared beside it overnight.
Frederick eagerly approached the tree and began to investigate the packages, attempting to find any with his name on them, nearly forgetting to breathe when he discovered that a large package delivered 'from Santa' was addressed to him. He first attempted to open the package quietly, but ended up noisily ripping apart the paper, nearly jumping halfway across the room when a small orange head popped its way out of the top of the box.
"Meow," the kitten said quietly, as Frederick excitedly lifted the small creature out of the box.
Frederick smiled at the small kitten, and stroked it behind the ear as it purred softly in response. It was a small Tabby kitten, with light orange, tan, and yellowish stripes. Its beautiful green eyes stared up at Frederick happily as the boy continued to pet the kitten.
"Hey, kitten," Frederick whispered to it, "You are my friend, now. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you."
The kitten purred more loudly.
"Kit-kit," Frederick declared suddenly, patting the kitten on the head, "You're Kit-kit."
With Kit-kit, Frederick had the best Christmas that he had ever had.