Chapter 2: Reality Hits Hard

Jerrie woke up and was freezing. He instinctively reached for Teazer and grabbed nothing but air. That really woke him up and he sat up and looked frantically for her. He stumbled out of his box and looked wildly for her. He saw Jennyanydots sitting next to Asparagus and talking. He raced up to them. "Hey, Jenny, have you seen Teazer? I need to find her. She's gone missing!" he said rather desperately.

Jennyanydots looked at him with pity as she said softly, "Mungojerrie, don't you remember what happened last night? Rumpleteazer is gone. She spent the night in Bombalurina's box and then I don't know what she did."

An extreme wave of hurt and despair came over him as he heard what Jenny said. Right then the memories came flooding back. Teazer's hurt look… her crying… Old Deuteronomy revoking their mating… watching her pack up her things and leaving the jewels he gave her… the feel of her arms around him… her intoxicating scent… the kiss she gave him… watching her leave him. His amber eyes searched the junkyard until he saw Bombalurina walking with Demeter. He rushed over there.

"…so that's what happened." Bomba finished to Demeter. They were walking back from the junkyard after taking a morning bath.

"Wow. That doesn't seem like him…" Demeter started to say, but was cut off as Mungojerrie ran towards them.

"Bomba, Bomba! Have you seen Teazer? I gotta find her!"

Bombalurina just looked at Demeter and rolled her eyes. "Well, if a tom broke my heart, I sure wouldn't want to be in the same junkyard with him."

He stared at her, dumbstruck. 'No. she couldn't have left the yard.' He tried to convince himself. But her next words crushed his spirit.

"She spent the night in my box last night and then I saw her slink off towards the junkyard entrance. However, you might want to talk to Rum Tum Tugger. After we were together, he had watch duty." With that she turned back to Demeter and continued to talk. "What do you think…"

Mungojerrie walked off towards the entrance to find Tugger.

Tugger saw Jerrie coming, but pretended not to notice. He actually kinda felt sorry for Jerrie. But it was his own fault, he didn't take precautions. If he had, he wouldn't be looking for his 'mate.'

"Hey Tugger!" called Jerrie when he came closer. "Have you seen Teazer? I need to talk to her."

'Poor kid. He looks so depressed.' Tugger remarked to himself. "Yeah, I saw her this morning. She left about three hours ago."

"Well, where did she go? I gotta find her!" he was gasping horribly as he'd been running hard.

"I'm sorry, Jerrie. I can't tell you. Teazer doesn't want you coming after her. She told me that she needed to be free of you. If you want to try to find her scent, go ahead, but you should know better than me that a scent doesn't last too long." Tugger told Mungo.

"Since when does the infamous Rum Tum Tugger obey a queen?" Mungojerrie asked sarcastically.

"Since I think of her as a daughter. And it is your own fault, you know. If you didn't feel the need to look elsewhere for warmth, you wouldn't be bothering me now." Tugger spat back.

Mungo just looked at his paws, duly chastised.

"Why did you look at other queens when you were already mated? You should have known that it would come back in your face. That's why I'm not mated. I like queens too much to settle down with just one. Why, Mungojerrie? Why?" Tugger looked into Jerrie's eyes questionly, not really expecting a serious answer.

Jerrie sighed heavily. "I really don't know. When we met, I felt completely different. She paid attention to me and made me feel loved. I'd never had anyone really care for me that much. Whenever I would look at her, I felt funny inside. When she smiled, I felt giddy. She had an aura of… something… intoxicating. I did, er… I do love her. After we were mated, I didn't think I'd ever look at any queen again. But then there is this one queen. Her name is Tianzzi. She had a similar aura to that of Teazer's, but I tried to ignore it. I couldn't ignore it. I can't explain it, but I felt drawn to her the same way I was drawn to Rumpleteazer." He looked down at his calico paws again.

Tugger just stared. He had never thought that the male part of the Notorious Duo could be capable of feeling like this. He sounded so heartbroken, so beaten. But then, when he talked about Teazer, he'd sounded supremely happy. Even though Jerrie might have told this to whomever, Tugger felt privileged that he was hearing this. He never realized that the tribe clown could be so concerned about something. He always gave off a persona of complete confidence and poise.

Mungojerrie continued, "Mind you, I don't love Tianzzi like I love Teazer. Tianzzi was just a…a… fling. Yeah, I guess that's the right word. I spent the night with her for the past week. I realize that what I did was wrong, and I wish I could right it, but now… it's too late. I've lost her for good. She had every right to do what she did."

Tugger almost decided to tell him where she went, but if Teazer ever found out, he'd be dead. He didn't want to be on her bad side. No cat did. She could be as sweet as sugar, but if you made her upset, you'd better watch out. The only cat who was an exception was Mungojerrie. But now, who knew? He'd seen the scratches Tumblebrutus had after he'd stolen her pearls and tried to use them as marbles. He'd also seen Mistoffelees fur after he 'fell' into a pile of glue the day after he'd used Rumple for a magic trick and it went wrong. Her fur had been purple for a week. He was brought back to the real world because Jerrie was asking him a question. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

Mungojerrie sighed and asked again, "So you won't tell me where she is?" there was a pleading look in his eyes.

"Nope, sorry, no can do man. You know how mad Teazer would be. Sorry mate. I don't what else to say, I'm not good at stuff like this. But thanks for sharing." Tugger shrugged. "What can I say? I'm only good at consoling queens."

"O.k. Don't you tell anybody what I just said. I didn't really didn't want to talk, but I felt I had too." Jerrie said dejectedly.

"Hey, sometimes you just need to talk, to come to grips with reality or to sort problems out. I promise I won't tell anybody." Tugger turned back to watch the entrance and Jerrie wandered away. 'However,' he thought gleefully, 'I'll tell Rumpleteazer when I see her next .Even if she doesn't want him back, she still should know what his feelings are.'