Hello, darlings! I'm in a good mood, so here's the next chapter. But... that doesn't mean that I'm going to put up other chapters of "Holiday Love." Everything I said on that story still applys. I just feel like not being a bitch. This is going to be the last chapter for a while b/c the next one is going to belong and major plot developement. Just though I should let you know.

-Purrs, Anglina

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Chapter 7: Journey to Healing

Two weeks later…

Nightspark woke up to find Rumpleteazer next to him. He stiffened and tried to get up without waking her. She must have gotten cold. Even the cloth over the house wasn't enough to keep out the night wind. She just snuggled in closer and a purr erupted from her throat. He froze. 'This wasn't supposed to happen!' he admonished himself mentally. But somehow it did happen and he had the feeling that it was mutual, but he wasn't sure.

Over the past two weeks, they'd done everything together. At least… as much as she could do with her leg in a splint. Carrito had come in yesterday to remove it and was pleased with the healing process. She was now able to walk on it, but shouldn't overdo it. He still wasn't sure of how he felt towards her and how she felt about him. She had opened up to him a bit about her former mate, but that didn't mean anything. He wanted to give her space to cope.

He still felt weak in the knees when she giggled or smiled at him, but he continued to shrug it off.

She moved away from him and blinking groggily, woke up.

"Good morning, Teazer." He said with his eyes still closed.

"Morn…" she grunted, obviously not awake. 'Darn it!' She'd woken up beside him again. She needed to stop doing that. Granted it had been several weeks since she'd left Mungojerrie, but she shouldn't be able to forget him this quickly, should she? Sparky was kind of like a mix between Rum Tum Tugger and Jerrie. Jerrie. She hadn't really thought about him in a while. Did that mean she was recovering? Or did that mean that she was only using Nightspark as a replacement for her former mate? She shook her head and she stretched. She moved her paw gently and found that it didn't hurt. She slowly sat up and began to wash herself. Today was the day that Skimble was coming! She'd almost forgotten about it. "Hey, Sparky?"

"Yeah, doll?" came his reply.

"Can you help me get to the train station? One of my friends form the other junkyard is coming to visit." She asked sweetly.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. Her head fur was still mussed from sleep and her eyes weren't fully bright, but the sparkle that he'd come to love was there. How could he say no? Even if his mind wasn't convinced, his heart was convinced that he loved her. "Of course, darling. You should know that by now, I'd do almost anything for you." 'Where that hell did that come from?' he thought, very surprised that his mouth wasn't obeying his brain.

She looked at him in surprise. "You would? You must only be saying that because I've been an invalid for the past two weeks. I mean…" she stopped talking and tried to gather her thoughts. "I'm not trying to say that I don't appreciate what you and the Pollicles have done, but I wish you wouldn't say things you don't mean. Jer- Mungojerrie used to say that he'd do anything for me, and look what happened." It felt as if something had melted inside her heart. This was really the first time that she had really thought or talked about Jerrie. Yeah, she had mentioned him several times to Nightspark, but she had never told him the whole story. She didn't look at him as she said this.

He heard the catch in her voice and sat up. The maned tom just stared at her. She didn't believe that he meant what he said. Well, he could understand why, seeing as she had obviously been hurt by Mungojerrie. But he wouldn't hurt her. However, he realized that if he ever wanted to heal the gash on her heart, then he'd have to show her, not just tell her. His mouth continued to wander. "I wasn't just referring to when your paw was hurt, I was saying that even now, or even next year, that I'd anything for you."

"Thank you, but that's exactly what Jerrie said. And he didn't do everything for me. He didn't stay away from that other queen, he didn't gat me the necklace like he said he would, and above all, he didn't keep his promise to me that we'd be life-mates. Because he said things and didn't follow through on them, he broke my heart and I haven't gotten over it. I never really did tell you the whole story, did I?"

"No-" he tried to say but was cut off.

She put her paw to his mouth. "Hush. Yes you deserve to know. You've been taking care of me and I appreciate it. But if we are to continue living together, then it's only fair that you know. Besides, I think it might make me feel better to talk about it with someone." She removed her paw and looked into his eyes. In them she saw something, but it was something she couldn't fathom.

"Are you sure you want to talk about this now? I mean, are you ok?" he asked, concerned for her well-being. He didn't want her to talk if it would be too painful for her. In that sense, he was different from his cousin. Even though they looked alike, they had completely different personalities.

The calico queen squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "We met when we were young. I was one and he was one and a half. I'd been living all over the place until Tugger found me in a trash can. He brought me back to the junkyard. There I met Mungojerrie. He befriended me and taught me everything he knew about stealing. Eventually we saw each other as more than friends and he asked me to be his mate. That was the happiest moment of my life." She felt tears start to leak. "He always told me that I was the only queen in his life. He stole all sorts of jewelry for me. He gave me a string of pearls when he asked me to be his mate. He promised that he'd never leave me and that his heart would always be mine. But then, after about a year, I started to notice that he left in the middle of the night. He never told me where he went, just that he was 'out.' I tried to get an answer, but he would sidestep it and kiss me. His kisses made me forget." A small appeared on her face as she remembered them, but it soon faded as she continued. "Then, about four weeks ago, I started to notice another queen's scent on his fur. I brushed it off and didn't think anything of it. I didn't want to believe that he'd cheat on me with another queen. I loved him too much to really confront him. I didn't want to lose him and I thought that it was somehow my fault and not his. I was wandering around the streets trying to think when I ran into some of my other friends. Yes, these friends live in Tottenham Court. They invited me for a meal and of course, I didn't refuse. Over dinner I heard talk of a calico tom and a red and yellow queen. It didn't occur to me that the calico tom was Jerrie. The next thing I heard confirmed it. The tom had given the queen a jeweled necklace. Ok, I thought. No big deal. But Rosella piped up and said that it was full of red and white sparkly stones. It was an exact description of a necklace that Mungo said he'd swipe for me. I ran out of there and went straight to our box and started crying." She stopped talking as the tears came faster. He head sunk into her paws.

His heart was aching at the sight of her crying. He timidly reached over and put a large yellow paw around her shoulders. She leaned into him. "Are, are you sure you want to continue? Can you handle it?" he asked gently into her headfur. He felt her nod a bit against his fur.

She was grateful for him being there. She continued shakily, "A few days later, I woke up early in the morning and something felt weird. I decided that I'd confront him about the other queens' scent on him. When I asked him, he didn't give me a straight answer and suddenly became flustered. So I went to Old Deuteronomy, our leader," she explained. "and I explained the situation to him and our second-in-command, Munkustrap. So in the end, Old D. revoked our mating. Because I couldn't handle being in the same place as him, I left. You obviously know the rest. When he didn't have a good excuse for his actions, he hurt me." She implored, looking into his eyes. She wanted to get him to understand why she couldn't believe certain things anymore. "He broke all the promises that he made me. On top of it all, he actually had the nerve to say that he still loved me! Tell me, how can one still love their mate if they go running to another? It wouldn't have been so bad if he was just having dinner with her or giving her presents; what really bothers me is that he spent nights with her. Why would he do that when he had me? I mustn't have been good enough or enough for him." Her voice took on a bitter tone. "I bet this queen is as pretty as Bombalurina. He broke my heart and I don't know when, how, or if it will ever heal. I don't want to go back there. Deep in my heart though, I still care for him, but my mind and the rest of my heart forbid me from returning. If I return to the junkyard, return to him, it makes me look like the fool. I'm not ready to forgive him for what he's done. I'm sure he's suffering too, but somehow, he can't possibly have it as bad as me." She gave a small, bitter laugh. "Here I am, whining and prattling on like a baby. Excuse me, I need to be alone."

He watched silently as she detached herself and slowly walked over to her bedding and curled up. He then heard quiet sobbing. He gazed at her shaking form and then at the door. He sat there wondering what to do. He wasn't the type of tom to give comfort, he was a ladies' tom. His mind warred with itself.

'She's a queen, go to her.'

'No, she's grieving, leave her.'

Back and forth the voices continued to argue until he mentally yelled 'SHUT-UP!' He shook his mane out and crept towards the sad queen. He reached her side and curled up beside her. He wrapped his paws around her and began purring in her ear.

She was dreaming, the kind resulting from extreme pain or happiness. She was lost in a hazy area, land or sea, she couldn't tell. She was crying and nothing, nobody was there. She wandered aimlessly trying to find a way out. Any way would work as long as it would free her. Then, she heard a sound that was like one of those big metal things that raced the road. The sound continued and intensified as it broke through the haze. She faded back into consciousness and realized that Nightspark was the one making the rumbling sound. He was purring in her ear. Slowly her tears stopped and she just lay there.

As he purred to her, he noticed that her sobs were ebbing. Soon she wasn't moving and he peered over her body to see if she was awake. She was and her blue eyes looked into his.

Rumpleteazer sat up. She began to wash her face. "So there's the whole sordid story of my life in a nutshell. I'm sorry for imposing my troubles on you."

"Don't be sorry. Some things are better out in the open. Thank you for telling me. I, I, um…" he stuttered. "I, hope I can help to heal the hurt some if you'll let me." He finished. He felt his face grow warm and he wished the ground would swallow him up. 'I can't believe I said that! I don't want to… do I?' he looked at her and saw her eyes light up a bit.

"Thank you. I, I don't know what to say, but…I think that I would like that very much. But it will take a long time. Some days might be better than others. However, I'm surprised that Tugger's cousin would be so willing to settle down. He told me that you are as bad as him when it comes to queens." She said quietly.

'Why did my playboy cousin have to go and assume that we're the same way? If I ever find the right queen, I'd settle down. Actually, I think I just might have found the right one.' Out loud he said, "Oh in certain areas we are the same, but I'm more likely to settle down. But yes, we both consider ourselves to be ladies' toms." He said rather cockily.

She smiled. He was almost as unbearable as Tugger, but there was something else there. Something that made him much more tolerable. Jerrie had a cocky sense of humor and Sparky was very similar. Maybe that was why she felt able to let him into her life a bit: because he was so similar to Jerrie. But no, she couldn't use him as a substitute for Jerrie. 'Oh, this too confusing!' "Oh! I forgot! Skimbleshanks is supposed to come in today. Can you help me get to the station?"

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What will happen between Nightspark and Rumpleteazer? Stay tuned.

Thank you to Storm Front for reviewing.

Up next: Some action. (wink, wink) but between who? Don't forget... Jerrie is still hangin around...

Reviews rock my world.