Author's Note: I return. The story returns. Jaypaw being a jerk returns. The only thing that doesn't? Lost time. Only a time machine can bring that back, and that'll take so much time I won't even bother. So here's another chapter, hope you enjoy.

Chapter Ten

The walk back to ThunderClan's camp was perhaps one of the longest Jaypaw had ever experienced. Having to face Willowpaw had not helped. At all. He didn't know why, but somehow that she-cat just managed to get under his pelt. all her talk of being in love with him, and now this. He felt he could kill her round about now.
It was bad enough that she had had to go and confess to him in the first place, that, at least, he could handle. But to then go ahead and tell Minnowpaw, of all cats? True, it wasn't as if he exactly knew her, but, if she was anything at all like her Clanmates, then he could be sure that she was extremely nosy and a complete blabber mouth. Great. Just great, he thought to himself, rolling his eyes as he did so.
Plodding tiredly up to the apprentice's den, he paused to yawn. All he wanted right now was a good night's sleep. Something to clear his head so he could sort this all through in the morning. Just what else could go wrong, exactly?
It was then that he heard a voice he really did not want to hear at this point.
"Jaypaw?" It was his mother, Squirrelflight, and he was sure that whatever it was she had to say would not be something he wanted to hear. No she-cat had ever said anything to him that he wanted to hear.
"What!"he snapped, wheeling round to face her. He seriously was not in the mood right now.
"I was just wondering, well, you see, I've been talking to Leafpool and..." That was not the right thing to say. Jaypaw's mood darkened considerably at the mention of his ex-mentor and Squirrelflight, seeming to sense this, attempted quickly to backtrack. "What I meant is, you've been acting kind of weird lately. And as your mother I'm just a tad concerned.." That, too, had been the wrong thing to say. Squirrelflight would have attempted for a third time to get out what was on her mind, but Jaypaw cut in too quickly.
"So what did you mean, mother? That you finally noticed that not everything's all a nice sea of freshly-killed mice and the first thing you decide to do about it is talk to Leafpool? What about me? I'm your son! I'm the one you were concerned about, and instead of just asking me what the bloody problem was, you went behind my back to talk to Leafpool!" He waited, quite impatiently, for her to find her tongue and supply him with a good enough answer. The fur along his spine was tingling, and his sightless eyes were narrowed in light of this newest occurrence. StarClan, was he tired of getting angry!
"Well, actually, I only went to Leafpool because she seemed to be feeling pretty rotten herself!" said Squirrelflight, feeling her own fur beginning to fluff up. She was Firestar's daughter, the medicine cat's sister, and a senior warrior on top of that. She didn't need to take this kind of attitude from anybody, least of all her own son. "And I can tell you, Jaypaw, I was quite surprised to hear what was at the root of her troubles. You don't even bother to think about the feelings of others before you act, do you?"
Jaypaw really was getting tired of this. He didn't want to dwell on problems that in his mind had already been sorted out, he just wanted to get some rest. Besides, what right did she have to belittle him, when she was guilty of some of the same crimes herself? "Yeah, well, it's not as if you've never done that, now is it?" For once he was glad of his prickly tongue as, for the second time in the same night, he stalked angrily away and left a somewhat confused and hurt-looking she-cat behind him.
He was really getting sick of this.

Hollypaw sat watching over Lionpaw. Her brother had woken earlier that morning, drank some water off a ball of moss, and then drifted off back to sleep. The small black she-cat was still rather worried about him, as it was unlike her brother to be so tired, but Leafpool had assured her he was just being a lazy furball, and he was going to be perfectly fine.
Hollypaw kind of doubted this, for though Jaypaw had been right when he said that most of the blood covering Lionpaw had belonged to a fox, the image of her brother's body, covered in blood, still haunted her mind. Shaking her head to free herself of such a wretched image, and feeling bored, Hollypaw gently poked her brother's golden tabby flank with one of her slim forepaws, pausing as he twitched and mumbled something incoherent under his breath. She waited awhile, and when he refused to get up, she poked him again, this time a little harder. One of his golden yellow eyes opened a crack.

"Hollypaw, is that you?" His voice sounded rather hoarse from lack of recent use, and he hadn't even made an attempt to sit up yet.

"Of course it's me, you lazy furball! Who else would sit around waiting for you to wake up? And now that you are awake, you can get up. Poor Leafpool's been forced to work around you all day and most of yesterday, and it's nearly sunhigh, too."

"Nearly sunhigh!" yelped Lionpaw, startled, as he made a vigorous effort to sit up. However, not having used his leg muscles for such a period of time, they completely failed him and he ended up slumping back into his nest.

The look of abject worry on his face caused a purr of amusement to well up inside Hollypaw's throat and, brushing her tail tip lightly against his nose, she said in a laughing tone, "Perhaps you'd better eat first, huh? Stay here, and I'll go fetch you a mouse from the fresh-kill pile."

"Okay, but make sure it's nice and juicy!" cried Lionpaw after her as she turned to go.

"Sure thing!" Hollypaw called back over her shoulder, her good mood still prevailing. Trust Lionpaw to be such a glutton! Purring happily, she made her way over to the fresh-kill pile, and was about to select one of the more delectable-looking mice when she heard the distinctive voices of both Graystripe and Firestar. She was about to completely disregard them and hurry on when she made out a quieter, less recognizable voice.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she held off on her task for a moment and looked over at the entrance to the camp, where the voices were coming from. Firestar and Graystripe her sitting by the entrance, exchanging what appeared to be pleasantries with an unfamiliar silver cat. It took her a while to recognize Silverfish.

Forgetting Lionpaw's mouse, she moved closer to better listen in on their conversation. She found herself hoping that Firestar was extending an invitation to the loner to stay. Not only had she not yet thanked him for the role he played in saving her brother's life, but she was still interested in learning more about him. One can never know too much, she thought happily to herself, sneaking closer as she did so.

"...I'm sorry I can't exactly offer for you to stay right now," said Firestar, looking apologetic but also slightly relieved. "Under normal circumstances I would, but there's too much tension among the Clans without introducing a stranger."

"I understand perfectly, Firestar," meowed Silverfish pleasantly. "No need to feel bad about it. I'm afraid I would have had to decline the offer anyway. I have unfinished business of my own to take care of." This last was said in a rather melancholy manner, and Hollypaw noted the slightly uncomfortable looks on both Firestar and Graystripe's faces.

"Right. Well, I suppose that's that. Thank you for saving the lives of both my daughter and my grandson, the thanks of all of ThunderClan go with you, and if there's ever anything you need help with, know that ThunderClan is always here."

"Thank you for that, I'll keep it in mind," mewed Silverfish, then, with a courteous exchange of nods, Silverfish turned and left. Firestar and Graystripe, after making sure he had completely disappeared up the tunnel, turned as well and headed towards Firestar's den, their heads bent together as they talked in low whispers. Hollypaw barely spared them a second glance before she disappeared up the tunnel after Silverfish.

It wasn't long before Hollypaw caught up to Silverfish. He didn't seem in any particular rush, and was barely past the training hollow when Hollypaw almost crashed into him. He had been sitting with his back turned to her, and it was only by luck that she managed to stop herself in time.

"Ah, Hollypaw. I was wondering when you'd show yourself. You want to thank me for that business with the fox, correct?" He smiled at the look of wonderment she was giving him.

"Yes, yes I did," she said, struggling to retain her composure. "But also, I wanted to ask you some questions."

"Oh, you did? What sort of questions?" He seemed rather surprised, but pleasantly so. Hollypaw hoped this was a good sign.

"Just about what it's like not being part of a Clan and stuff. Also, what's it like not living by the lake. I've never been anywhere else, and it's so rare we see an outsider these days and, well, I'm just rather curious." She ended her barrage feeling rather embarrassed, she didn't mean to sound nosy, and hoped he understood that her curiosity came from a deep desire to learn. Nervously she stared down at her paws, waiting for him to laugh. She was quite surprised when he didn't.

"Hmm. Well, I'm not too sure if I have time to answer all of that, but who knows? I haven't actually had time to look around much yet, but I do understand your curiosity. Tell you what: You go back to your camp now, and I'll see what I can do about sticking around for a while. Okay?"

Hollypaw nodded, but she didn't see how her going back to camp would get any of her questions answered. "So, are you coming back to camp too?" she asked, meeting his blue eyes with her own steady green gaze.

"Ah, no. I think Firestar made it painfully clear that he didn't want me sticking around, and I'm loathe to stay where I'm not wanted. I'll find other quarters for the time being. Just don't tell him I'm planning to stick around for a while longer. Something tells me he won't be exactly pleased. I'll find a way to meet up with you whenever you're not busy." He sat down and nonchalantly scratched behind his ear, waiting for her to leave.

Hollypaw was just about to turn and head back to camp when she remembered something that Silverfish might find useful. "Oh, and I'd better warn you, ThunderClan aren't the only cats to make their home by the lake, and the other four Clans don't owe you anything, so chose wisely where you plan to spend the night!"

"Alright, thanks!" called Silverfish, blinking gratefully at her. "Now get on home. I'm sure they're missing you over there."

Hollypaw nodded and trotted off happily, unaware of the sad look that had crept into Silverfish's eyes.

Author's Note: In which we learn some more about Silverfish, and begin to wonder whether Lionpaw will ever get his mouse.

I would just like to say that the beginning scene of this chapter has always been planned, just in a slightly different way than how it turned out. When I first wrote this (before I lost it) their argument was more about Squirrelflight and Leafpool trying to meddle in Jaypaw's life, and Jaypaw originally ended it by proclaiming that he didn't care what anyone thought, it was his life, and he'd live it as he saw fit. Needless to say some changes have been made. First of all, the original was lengthier, second of all, Squirrelflight was a complete wuss, and third of all a lot of the original gist ended up being taken out of the argument. It was originally far more epic, and left behind a lot more confusion to Squirrelflight. But, you know, I forget. I haven't even looked at this thing for over a month, and my original files died long before then, so this is what you get after I've spent a couple of hours playing around with words. After all this time, these are the ones that just fit.

I sincerely hope that makes sense to all you people. Now, I'd better stop, before this Note ends up being longer than the entire chapter!