I do not own Pepe or Penelope or the song Tiptoe through the Tulips (based off of The Scent of the Matterhorn which I don't own either.) Watch short for references and review if you please!

I own Ambrose Baxter and Pepe's and Penelope's families.

Chapter Ten

What Happens Among the Matterhorn

She had been missing for an hour and had been kindly taken care of. He gave her his jacket, even though she was not that kind to him. Why would he do such as think when she was not as gracious?

She was thinking about the evening before.

A week has passed since the movie theater incident. Penelope was visited by a new suitor (against her will, but figured it couldn't be as bad as running into Pepe.) Ambrose Baxter, the son of a journalist in California was courting her. Ambrose liked Penelope for her attractiveness, but he was somewhat annoyed by her shyness. To help her become more confident he took her on a trip to the Matterhorn to hike. Penelope was dreading it since she did not like snow that much. It seemed like whenever it had been her birthday (which was in early February,) it was too cold to be outside which kept her indoors. A few times though it had been alright enough to be outside and having some hot tea and warm cake.

After the plane ride over (in Ambrose's private jet that he had bought a year before,) Penelope gazed around at the sights of Switzerland. The mountain was gorgeous in the early morning and she felt a desire to stay outside just to stare at it. Yet, she stayed in her own expensive hotel room for most of that day reading a wedding dress book that her mother had given her. She knew what that meant; a gesture to marry Ambrose or someone that was approved! Penelope glazed her eyes over the poofy and frilly dresses to the slim and sultry ones that she knew would not go well for her.

Ambrose? Marry him? That short, round white cat, who had a gap in his teeth which made Penelope scrunch in discomfort about how it would feel to have a gap as well.

"Why do I get the least attractive ones who lust after me and never for just me?" she asked herself as she put on a light purple dress and black pumps. The shoes were pinching her feet since she had not broken in them yet, but smiling she went to join dinner that evening with Ambrose, who wore a tweed suit. Dinner was fabulous, but the walk among the nature was not so great. Penelope did not expect to walk so far along and needed to rest her feet. Ambrose let her do so and wandered back to the hotel which was close by.

Penelope found herself though wanting a freedom from Ambrose and climb up the mountain a small distance. She rested on the ground that had grass and shut her eyes. The sun was sinking low and the area around her seemed perfect. It would be for a while.

It seemed that Pepe was wherever Penelope was. Whatever it was, Pepe found it delightful to see her as that she made him feel happy, even if she was not happy to see him. On that day, he had been given the day off from babysitting his younger sisters as of that the family was their yearly trip and this destination was to the Matterhorn. It had gotten annoying for him with his jokester brother, Diego, had shoved him into a snow bank which caused the snow to stick to him and called him "The Abominable Snowman." Then he had to sing Tiptoe through the Tulips, (while tiptoeing along) ten times for Marie so that she would doze off at naptime. Yes, being an older brother was an exhausting job, but worth it when the baby sister gave hugs.

Wanting to have some time for himself, Pepe went off into the nature to think and be lazy. He had been wearing his thickest jeans, socks and some boots since it was a little chilly in the area he was in. (Penelope was not given a jacket because Ambrose wanted to put his coat on her to be romantic.)

He thought of Penelope and talked to himself to intrude the silence of the evening. He thought about how he read her last name from her receipt forgot her last name and then was surprised to find it on her nameplate at her suite. How could he forget? Who else's last name was Pussycat? Then the wonder about mainly her; how she behaved, her eyelashes and her long tail with the stripe. He felt sorry for her that she had one by accident, but he couldn't see what was so bad about it because he had been born with a stripe. He wondered if her running from him was out of a flirt or if she was overwhelmed by his charm. His mother if she knew might have muttered to herself'

"Just like a man; thinking he is always charming when sometimes he's not."

Pepe did not take it to heart. He thought it was from the overwhelming of his charm that she ran.

"She must resist me because I am so irresistible, but what are you going to do? Eet's bigger zhan I am."

He wanted to meet her again to know her even more, but he wasn't certain if he would since she was always on the go from him.

He once had a dream of there being acres of girls and how he felt disgusted from it. What was he thinking to have led him to that dream? He wasn't a lustful person or someone with a filthy mind thanks to being raised in a decent family.

"Acres of girls all for myself; any man's wish come true, and I can't tolerate eet."

What if something was wrong with him? Actually, nothing was, he was a gentleman, but only because he had been taught to.

Penelope by now had been dozing away from her brief hike and laid down on her stomach and felt the cool grass seep into the material of her dress. It felt refreshing and calming. She was beginning to dream when her typical chaos was freed for the day.

Pepe had walked for a few paces when he spotted her and smiled. She was here! He couldn't believe his eyes that she was there and seemed to be freezing. He was on higher ground than her which made his sight blurry. He skidded down to her and knelt at her side waiting for the beautiful femme to awake.

Penelope rolled to her back with her front side completely damp. She sighed, feeling rested. She blinked her eyes open and smiled then blinked again with shock. What was he doing here?

"What now?" she yelled seeing him. She sat up right and bumped her head against his chin causing both of them to react in quick pain.

"Why are you out here alone?" he asked shaking his head to recover.

Penelope stood up and stumbled off in the wrong direction which prompted Pepe to follow her.

"None of your business," she said shakily for she realized how cold it was. She brought her arms around her to warm her.

"You're cold," said Pepe gently. He wasn't blind; he could tell she was starting to shiver.

"I am not," she said and blew warm air into her hands to rub her arms warm.

"I can see you're shaking," said Pepe and was closer behind her. He had kept his hands shoved in his pockets for a moment to warm them. Now he freed them and lightly touched her arm. She twitched at the new warmth and did not trust the hands. They could have gone further to the right to feel something else.

"What if he does it to me out here?" she began to panic. "The headlines would say a defenseless cat raped by a mad skunk." Penelope was letting her fear of rape and so forth take too much control of her.

"Where are you going?" asked Pepe. Penelope pushed herself up onto another bit of higher ground and kept on going up, not even thinking about going down. Her only determination was getting far from Pepe.

Pepe was clever. He took a quicker trail up to meet her. He was leaning causally against the wall of rock, hand propping him forward, and ankle crossed.

Sure enough, Penelope came up breathless and beginning to sweat. She stumbled forward to Pepe and thinking she was sage rested her hands at his shoulders.

Then she felt something moist on her cheek. A pair of lips; his lips. Pepe only kissed her there and not anywhere else on her face. He kissed her out of a sudden rush of feeling that he couldn't understand. He couldn't be in love this fast, but he kissed her as a small comfort.

Penelope turned her head to face him and he repeated the gesture causing her to run to the side and slip down a slippery path, but she didn't quite let go of Pepe's shoulders so he went down after her as well. Down they slid shouting all the way, until they were heading into a cave. Penelope stopped in front of the cold wall which lead to what was more tunnels. Pepe slid into her and realized something. She wasn't wearing a certain undergarment underneath because the dress had a built in one. He could feel her smooth back his head had hit and didn't feel any lines or bumps. He was stunned. Up till now, he thought every woman wore that undergarment no matter what they had on. His mouth quivered in shock and he blinked rapidly then shoved out any bad thoughts before they could control him about undergarments.

Penelope was shivering more than ever. She stood up and slipped forward. Pepe pictured the two of them trapped in the cave as if an avalanche had hit them and he would have to build a fire while Penelope brooded away from him in a corner.

Penelope only sat down for a moment then curled up onto the floor. Pepe took of his heavy jacket and dropped it onto her. Penelope felt the sudden heat and though she didn't trust Pepe, she put it on. The sleeves went over her hands since Pepe was taller than her compared to Ambrose. Not much else happened for the next few minutes. Pepe cautiously inched his way out of the slippery cave after those minutes of figuring out of how to get out since the entrance was slippery. As he did this he felt a desire to please Penelope which could have brought him the title "Streetcar."

Penelope stood up to follow him and only hoped the sooner she got out the sooner she would get away from him. Following him out of the cave and farther down from it to a grassy slope the she continued. She gasped from the pain of her shoes. How they hurt!

"Why did I wear these new shoes?" she moaned. She continued to follow him. The journey down was boring to her and only the stars were they're light. Once in close range of her hotel, Penelope tore of his jacket into his hands and looked at him.

"Thanks you," she said quickly, but politely.

"You're welcome Penelope," said Pepe with a kind smile.

He felt smiling, but when he turned around he saw Ambrose come out and hug Penelope. Then he churned inside with anger.

He was so upset in fact, that when he got to the small motel he was at he put up a sign on the door that said "Do not disturb vous." He slammed the door and leaned against it. He felt such an urge to take Penelope away from those sickening men. He cared enough for her compared to them. Whether he loved her or not

he would keep her away from them somehow. Loved her? Did he? He thought he was.