"Sorry sorry there was an accident on Maxwell Boulevard and…" Dudley had just opened the door as he stared into the green eyes of the tall tanned furred cat that was angrily tapping her high heel on the ground.
"We said 5 pm, now it's 5:30," Kitty stated with the cold empathy of an executioner. "We will be too late at the location."

"I am sorry…" Dudley tried his best puppy eyes in reply and hoped that Kitty would put mercy before justice on her own birthday.
"Dudley we rented a whole private room in a really expensive restaurant. Our friends will come. My mother is there, heck even my sisters said they would come…"
"They are not in jail?"

"Kerry isn't, just Katerina was until today."
"Oh got it." He smiled a skewed smile. He hadn't had much interaction with Katerina who was mostly called Katty, but Kerry who was mostly known as madam Katastrophe was a more common name for him.

It wasn't because they had foiled a lot of plans for them, although this of course was part of it. It was rather because, due to an accident with a portal about two years ago. Dudley was thrown back into the past where he, in his own words 'accidentally', freed the Katswell family from their abusive patriarch.

He especially had some contact with teenage Kerry during that time. Dudley still wondered why she had never come to the conclusion that it was him back then, but he waived that thought mostly by thinking that she must expect a much older-looking dog instead of him.

"Okay, can we now go?" Kitty asked insistently.
"Sure thing." Dudley held the door open and even bowed a little. Kitty stepped through it while the dog could almost feel her rolling her eyes annoyedly. They both got into the car and headed for their destination.

"Dudley… Isn't Maxwell Boulevard almost at the other side of town from T.U.F.F.?"
"I followed a criminal there, I lost him in an industry hall unfortunately." Dudley had never been a very good liar but in the time he worked for the advisor he had learnt quite quickly that this was a necessary skill.

"Hmm…" Kitty just made the sound and Dudley knew that behind her forehead gears were turning but not to his advantage. He needed to change the topic quickly otherwise he had to answer some very uncomfortable questions.

"So remind me of the guestlist." He quickly called out.
"Don't tell me you forgot again" sighed Kitty tiredly.
"Only partially." He grinned and felt relieved. Playing the idiot always worked.

"There is my mom and Jack, my sisters maybe, Keswick wanted to come…" Kitty enumerated tonelessly but all of a sudden, her mood brightened. "Oh, you won't believe who announced that she would be there at the last second?"

"Who?" Dudley was also now caught on fire by Kitty's sudden mood swing.
"Carmelita!" she exclaimed, and Dudley started laughing happily.
"Now it's a party, Carm is there! And she flew the whole way from Paris?"
"She was close by due to some things she had to do. Probably Interpol things."

"You got to love our friends at Interpol and their high budget for travel expenses." The dog rubbed his hands. "So, tequila time again!"
"Not so fast, we are not doing this again, especially not in this restaurant." Kitty stated sternly.
"We still got the time after the restaurant."
"Dudley…"

"Come on Kitty, you behave like you are becoming forty. You're 28, let's be a little crazy as long as we can."
"I think I have enough crazy on a daily basis with you around," Kitty said and her stern exterior was broken by a little chuckle.

"Oh, you have seen nothing yet." Laughed the dog and then looked over at her. Even while sitting in the driver's seat he could see how well the elegant black dress looked on her. Dudley chuckled a little and kept the comment about Kitty's fear of colors that weren't on a spectrum between grey and black for himself and instead said. "You look beautiful in your dress Kitty."
Kitty blushed surprised by the unexpected compliment and replied. "Thank you, but you are also looking quite handsome in your suit."

"That old thing? Oh, come on." He chuckled and then sighed. "You know spending the night with you in front of the TV would have been great too."
"That's also something I had preferred but, once or twice a year, this is kind of obligatory."
"You Katswells and your weird rules." Dudley shook his head. "So next year we can fall asleep to some awful movies again?"

"Put it down in our calendar." Kitty smiled and parked the car on the side of the road in front of the restaurant.
An inpatient waiter led them into a room in the back of the mostly empty-looking restaurant where they were met by a group of people that looked very relieved to see them. They all got up from their chairs, or in the chief's case hopped onto the table, and started the obligatory happy birthday choir.

Kitty suffered through the song that was sung without a common cadence and text and was left happy enough to lie a friendly. "Aww thank you, that's so nice" before sitting down on the table next to her mother who especially eyed Dudley very critically as he sat down.

"I'm sorry you had to wait, guys." Kitty meant apologetically.
"It was my fault, so please, direct your anger on me." Dudley chuckled and received a huff from Mrs. Katswell as an answer. Dudley swallowed down the comment on his lips about her being good at following orders.

"Oh I could never be a..a..angry on you, Duds!" Keswick called over from the other side of the table with a tone in his voice that was unusual to him. Dudley eyed him more than surprised. Was Keswick drunk already?

"Keswick, are you… okay?" Kitty asked worriedly.
"He came like that…" Jack, Mrs. Katswells second husband, grumbled and averted his gaze disgusted off Keswick.

"Yes… I am sorry for that." The chief obviously searched for some kind of justification for his employee's state. "He must have dosed his anxiety medication incorrectly."
"Yes! Also, I shouldn't have taken it w..w..with alcohol!" Keswick laughed and while Kitty laid a hand on her face sighing. Dudley could do nothing but chuckle.

"Kitty I have a feeling this will be an evening to remember." He whispered to her.
"But for all the wrong reasons…" She sighed and then looked up again. Her eyes wandered through the people sitting. Her mom and stepfather, the chief, Keswick and some other colleagues, and Kitty's friend Jenifer, a white-furred cat that Kitty knew since high-school. No sign of her sisters or Carmelita.

"They'll come." Dudley meant reassuringly and took one of her hands as he saw the disappointment on her face. "Let's start with our orders, maybe they'll be here before the salat."
"I'd like to have your optimism."
"I am willing to share it." Dudley smiled and stole a quick kiss from her.

The waiter came with expectations and left with their orders just to return with the appetizers. A table talk ensued in which Keswick sporadically started singing happy birthday before receiving an angry stare from his boss every time. Dudley concentrated his energy on talking to Jenifer who also seemed glad not to be pulled into the discussion of the chief and Jack about world politics under the lens of people born in the 'greatest times'.

Mrs. Katswell immediately requisitioned Kitty as her talking partner, something that the cat wasn't really fond of as her mom didn't want to discuss anything that wasn't her private life.
"Kitty I like that you look so healthy today." Her mom smiled and Kitty's jaw immediately became a grinder for her teeth. She knew the code for 'you have gained weight again'.

"Thank you mom, I feel very well." She replied barely getting her teeth apart.
"Have you received the article I sent you? About this new Hollywood diet? All the stars do it now."
"I haven't had the time, you know, work."

"Oh yes, work." Mrs. Katswell nodded. "You work so hard my dear, why don't you take a break like your sister does? She seems quite sorted with her work-life balance."
"Mom… Katty of course is sorted because she is in jail." Kitty took deep breaths to calm herself. A method that was less helpful the longer her mother continued.

"But still she earns so much with her business."
"She's peddling stolen goods for a living!" Kitty's hand wandered towards her forehead massaging it gently. She could feel the usual headache appear.
"She's an entrepreneur, honey." Her mother simply laughed her objections away. Kitty was always surprised at how delusional she was when it came to Katty. She never talked about Kerry, she also knew that she was a criminal but simply declared her the black sheep of the family. Katty was always on a pedestal.

Kitty was almost at the boiling point as her mother, like a trained cold assassin, struck the killing blow. "Did you hear that she got engaged last week?"
"Okay…" Dudley had listened to the conversation just from time to time but as he heard the words he grabbed Kitty, who had already inhaled to counter with a loud screaming fit toward her mother, gently by her shoulders. "The main course needs quite a while, Kitty, I think we should go and look."
Dudley helped Kitty off her chair and dragged her quickly out of the restaurant back to their car where, as soon as the doors were closed, Kitty yelled loudly. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT KATTY'S ENGAGEMENT!" She looked deeply breathing through the windshield into her reflection that looked back furiously at her.

"She pushed all the buttons tonight, huh?" Dudley said and pulled the fingers out of his ears.
"Every trick she knew she pulled." Moaned Kitty, she looked ready to bite into the steering wheel. "My weight, my career my social life."
"Finances?"
"Indirectly yes."

"Wowee…" He whistled through his teeth. "The full range."
"I mean it's my birthday, can't she…"
Dudley cut her short by taking her into a hug. "Relax, you know she won't, you remember your grandma's funeral?"

"Don't remind me." She sighed shivering as the memory knocked on her mind' s door.
"We just swap places, you talk with Jenny and I be the wall between your mother and you."
"Dudley no you know what she will ask you then!" Kitty objected but Dudley instead of answering simply kissed her.

"Don't worry about me, have some fun for once." He whispered as they broke the kiss.
"I swear if you survive that I'll make up for that." She said and smiled a little.
"I can't wait." He grinned and the two returned to the private party. Not a lot has changed inside except a blue-haired brown-eyed fox was sitting in a long strapless red dress amongst the guest.
Dudley and Kitty both smiled as they saw her and their smile was returned.

"Go talk to her." He laughed and waved at Carmelita. "I go and keep your mother distracted."
"Carm it's been too long!" Kitty exclaimed happily and walked to the vixen.
"Happy birthday, Kitty!" Carmelita hugged her friend and the two of them sat down to talk.
Meanwhile, Dudley was sitting next to Mrs. Katswell who eyed him like the great shark the red tuna.
"So Daniel."

"Dudley" corrected Dudley with the friendliest smile he could muster.
"Oh sorry, my bad." Mrs. Katswell said without an ounce of her meaning it.
"Don't worry, we know each other for just two years now." Behind the façade of a friendly smiling dog Dudley was groaning. He knew exactly what she would try to address next, it was like that woman went with a battle plan into these conversations.

"So you are still working at this delivery service?"
"Yes, you could call it like that." He chuckled and crossed his arms. "We take criminals and deliver them to prison."
"Ah and Kitty is still your boss there?" she probed provocatively.

Dudley gave her a tired smile. It was a nice try but two things came to play here: First, even if Mrs. Katswell tried, she didn't even know where the buttons she needed to push were. And Second, if you had to handle talking to a probably demonic entity that knows where the buttons are and loves pushing them as hard as it could, you grow thick fur.

"Not quite, the chief is." He pointed with his thumb to the flea that was talking loudly with Jack. "She is a rank higher than I am, not gonna lie."
"This comes with a lower paycheck I suppose?"

"Not significantly but yes." Dudley started grinning, he didn't know why but he suddenly liked where this is going. A small part of him asked himself if he has gotten mad enjoying his girlfriend's mother trying to roast him.

"Look my dear." Sighed Mrs. Katswell in a Oscar-worthy depiction of concern for him. "I need to tell you the truth, Kitty will step up the career ladder and leave you behind. And when that happens, she'll search for someone more on her level. You get my point?"
"Oh I get it." He smiled and leaned closer to her. "And I also catch your drift but… Would you mind a piece of advice from me?"

"Sure, what is it?" Mrs. Katswell seemed confused, she had expected to be Dudley to be more indignant about her comment. Dudley meanwhile came ever closer to her ear. The small part in him grew and now declared him officially mad as he said the next words.

"You see, I need no money or career to keep Kitty at my side. The constant nagging and deprecating comments of her mother will drive her into my arms without any effort from my side. So as long as you are being yourself, I am golden." He leaned back and suppressed the thought that these words had also been said by Sam.

The advisor had been gone for two years and the second he was back Dudley remembered all the things he had tried to suppress. All the training the mad adventures and the constant mocking. And though never been taught to be mean he learnt a few tricks from Sam just by being a punching back.

"How dare you, you nasty…"
"Oh please, tell me it isn't true." Dudley leaned back in his seat and smugly smiled at her. The next thing he knew was the water from Mrs. Katswell's glass hitting him in the face. The elder cat stood up without another word and left the room.

"Hun?" Jack also stood up but then looked down at Dudley. "What have you said?!" His word's sounded like a hiss. Dudley dried his face with a handkerchief just before getting grabbed by his color by the male cat.
"What did you.."

"Jack!" Kitty intervened by pushing her stepfather gently off of Dudley. "What's gotten into you?!"
"Into me? Ask your boyfriend." Jack said the word boyfriend in such a way that it must have left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I will after I looked after mom." She said and added. "And you will come with me, and you Dudley." She pointed at him and Dudley saw the full range of embarrassment in her eyes. "You stay right here."

Swiftly the two cats left and Dudley closed his eyes. He had overdone himself, he knew that. But the thrill of having at least a bit of revenge on her for all the mean things she said had been too strong. Dudley expected nothing less than to be banned to the couch tonight, and rightfully so.
"Somebody knows how to party" a known voice said and he opened his eyes again. On the chair which had been occupied by Kitty's mom, Carmelita was sitting.

"Carm! It's been too long." He said excitedly and the two of them exchanged a quick hug.
"It's good to see you too, Chucho." She giggled. "So how did you get your mother-in-law so riled up."
"Not my mother-in-law, at least not yet." Dudley smirked.

"Oh, what are you planning, Chucho?" she shared his grin and suddenly they both felt like conspirators.
"I do have something planned for our anniversary in three months… But shut your big mouth about it!" He said and quickly showed her a picture on his smartphone.

"No too shabby." Laughed Carmelita eying a slender rose gold ring that held a deep green emerald in a simple setting. "I don't see how making her mother angry is helping you to pop the question though."
"No this was… just stupid." He sighed and started to dry himself with a napkin.
"Seriously what did you say to her?"

"Well after she started her usual spiel about how I don't earn enough and work in a dead-end job and that Kitty will leave me soon as soon as she finds someone else." Dudley enumerated the things half annoyed half bored.
"Ouch, that's… mean."

"Yeah, so I said that I don't need these things because her shittiness will always drive her back to me."
"Chucho…" Carm gasped and shook her head. "Bad doggy."
"I maybe should apologize but… Maybe she will leave Kitty a little more alone when she has me as a hate object so…" he shrugged and put the drenched napkin away. "Win-win I guess."

"You could also play into her hand, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well imagine you and her really hit a rough path, who do you think will be there in an instant to spew poison in her ears?"
Dudley grabbed his chin pensively, he hadn't thought about that. Actually, he didn't think a lot at all except giving her some of her own medicine. "You maybe have a point there."

"You better keep that in mind." Carmelita nodded wisely before giggling again. "But let's not assume the worst case. We are here to party, so where are we heading after this?"
"We haven't planned anything yet, so we are completely free."

"Is the Charleston still open?" Carmelita referred to a club the three of them visited four years ago. Back then she had tried to make him and Kitty a thing and had almost succeeded if the three of them hadn't been too drunk. In the end, they all took turns using the bathroom to pray to a cold porcelain god.

"Yes, but they shifted to techno a few months ago, it's not the same."
"I don't care I just want to dance, I just need to blow some steam off."
"Is it about the thing in Pari…"

She stopped him by a hand gesture now looking utterly depressed all of a sudden. "I don't want to talk about it."
"I'm sorry, I just heard about you being involved in a pretty big bust…"
"Dudley please…"

"Okay, sorry…" He sighed and tried to lighten the mood by asking with a grin. "What about this Sly guy you told us back then? When will you introduce…"
Tears welled up in Carmelita's eyes and Dudley finally put the mental puzzle together. "I'm sorry… I would have loved getting to know him."

She suppressed a few sobs before regaining her composure. With a hoarse voice, she croaked. "You two would have gotten along I think…"
"Oh my god!" Kitty had appeared next to them and looked dismayed at Dudley. "Can I leave you unattended for 5 minutes without you making someone cry?"
"But I just…"

"It's okay Kitty, it's not his fault." Carmelita said and dried off the last bits of moisture. "You two, please excuse me for a moment."
The sad fox disappeared and was replaced by an angry cat. "What has gotten into you?"
"What did she tell you?" the dog and leaned forward in his chair, he felt eager in a way to know how Mrs. Katswell had twisted the story.
"She said you were really disrespectful."

"That's very broad, what did she tell you?"
Kitty quickly recapped a story that sounded like the enhanced version of what happened. He couldn't remember that he called her a 'fat bitch' but if you were to believe Mrs. Katswell he had done it twice.

"Your mom is… special. I like her for being special." He smiled amusedly. "But that wasn't what I said."
"Then what did you say?"
In the same way, he did to Carmelita, he told Kitty the story. "At least she had some truths in it this time." Commented Kitty sarcasm oozing from every word.
"Look I know that wasn't nice of me but I couldn't bite my tongue today. Especially after you had to leave the room because of her… I found it very karmic to watch her leave also the catharsis just feels great."

"Karmic? Catharsis?" Kitty laid her hand on his forehead. "No, your temperature is normal… Are you learning new words somewhere?"
"I got myself a word of the day app." Dudley grinned and coaxed a laugh out of Kitty.
"Well, keep using it, I like what I hear." She purred for a moment then shook her head. "Still, mom demands an apology."

"From me or from Daniel?"
"Stop it, please." She sternly said.
"Okay okay…" He smiled. "I will apologize to her as soon she's back."
"That could be a problem…" A third person joined their conversation. She grabbed a chair and sat down next to them. The newcomer looked identical to Kitty except for a white strand in her black her.

"Hello Katty." Kitty said frostily without looking over to her twin sister.
"Hey sis." She grinned and looked at Dudley. "Mom just left the building."
"Oh well, then I'll visit her tomor…" The look Dudley received from Kitty showed great annoyance.
"You know how she is…" Kitty grumbled. "She will remind us for the next two years if we don't get this out of the world now."

"What did he do?" Katty asked curiously and alternatively gazed from Dudley to Kitty.
"Insulted mom." Her sister said while making big air quotes.
"Do seriously want me to drive to her apartment now?" he asked and received nods from the twins. "This is ridiculous."

"I know Dudley but please…" Kitty pouted and also tried a version of puppy eyes that didn't really work on a cat.
"Fine I'll go." He stood up and grabbed his coat. "I'll see you later... If Jack doesn't shoot me."
"Dudley wait." Kitty walked up to him and kissed him. "Thank you… even if this is kind of your fault…"
"You know how to motivate, Kitty."

Just a few minutes later Dudley was on the street driving the car slowly through the night. Petropolis was oddly empty for a Friday night but that could be also linked to the freezing temperatures. It was the 3rd of March and the temperature was below freezing.
Dudley waited in front of a traffic light and stared into the red as his thoughts just repeated the words of the music from the radio.

"I enjoy these somber nights." A voice next to him startled him so much that his foot hit the gas. The car sprang over the empty crossroad and Dudley hit the brakes just before he hit a group of trash cans on the side of the road.

"God dammit!" he yelled and turned to the passenger side seeing a calmly sitting advisor who has not moved in his seat besides not being buckled in.
"Good evening Dudley." He smiled friendly. "Are you indulging in a joyride tonight?"
"Like you don't know what I am doing, Sam. What do you want?" Dudley meant annoyed and started the ignition again. He was just two blocks away from Mrs. Katswell apartment building.

"Oh nothing, I am here out of pure courtesy." The advisor chuckled.
"Just checking up on me, huh? Reminding me that I am under surveillance?"
"Oh, Dudley please…" the being slowly spoke as Dudley parked the car in front of the apartment building. "I am just watching when it is interesting, right now you did not do anything interesting. Well, until now. The apology to your mother-in-law could be quite exhilarating."

"Then how can you know that I apologize without watching me?!" Dudley angrily said and got out of the car. "Also, not my mother-in-law."
"You see I can observe without watching." The advisor said as he materialized next to the dog. "Also, Dudley, I know about the ring, so you might get used to the idea of calling her that."

The dog just huffed and pressed the doorbell. A few moments passed until Jack's voice boomed through the intercom. "Yes?"
"Jack it's Dudley… Look, can I talk to Madleine?"
"Don't you think you talked enough tonight?" He snapped back at him.
"Yes, and still I need to apologize."

Jack took an audible breath and then said. "Fine…"
Dudley pushed the door open the moment he heard the buzzing sound and walked straight to the elevator ignoring his grinning pursuer. He got in and pushed the button for closing the doors before the advisor could get in. The advisor's hand reached in and triggered the sensor just before the doors could form a metal union.

"Just one thing Dudley." He said as he held his hand over the door. "You better get your affairs in order."
"Wait, you…" Again within the blink of an eye, the advisor had disappeared and left Dudley with a more tangible fear. He remembered that after the events with Sullivan and before the time travel accident, Sam had told him this. Back then he had urged him to draw up a will, which Dudley did in video form. Was he implying he should update it?

Well, it was true that the old will was not really up to date anymore. Today the most stuff he could leave belonged to him and Kitty. Maybe his dad's gun but that would go to his mom. And there also were the journals he still used every time he saw Sam. Dudley couldn't say that he was ecstatic about the fact that he maybe could soon stop writing these and simply talk openly with Kitty about his so-called adventures. It was quite the opposite, he rather kept this secret and her away from it. One of them having to suffer through this madness was enough.

Of course, Kitty wouldn't be lost having to work for Sam, at least not as lost as he was in the beginning. But that alone wasn't a surety for withstanding what the advisor puts you through. Dudley pondered what would be the defining factor that would make someone advisor ready and came to the conclusion: "The ability to withstand being constantly put down and mocked by an all-powerful entity." A few years prior he wouldn't have seen that as an ability, now he knew it was a very valuable skill to have.

Fortunately despite his brain trying to wrap around the advisor and his ways, his feet had been auto-steering him to the door of Mrs. Katswell's apartment. Unamused the cat was already waiting for him. She stood in the doorframe wearing a bathing robe.
"Make it quick." Her voice sounded hostile and vile as she fixed his angry gaze on him.
"Mrs. Katswell… Madleine."

"Mrs. Katswell." She corrected.
"I am deeply sorry for what I said." Dudley just unwound the apology like it was recorded on a tape in his head. "I hope you can accept my apology."

Mrs. Katswell just rolled her eyes. "I don't know what she sees in you."
"I guess it is more like a bunch of reasons and not just one." He shrugged and smiled. "But seriously I… went kind of overboard there."
"You did, yes." She nodded her arms crossed like a medieval knight who's ready to draw a blade anytime.

"But you must see that this can't go on like that. I don't want to be Kitty's emotional support whenever she talks to her mother."
"Now you are exaggerating." Mrs. Katswell said annoyed but her attitude quickly changed as she saw the dog's face. The chipper and happy attitude was gone and he stared her down with his steel blue eyes.

"I do not joke about that." He said in a stern staccato. "I hope you understand me."
Mrs. Katswell's answer was a hesitant nod. And then like a switch was flipped, Dudley smiled happily again. "Very good, so, sorry again… I see you I guess."
"Y..Yes…" Again Mrs. Katswell nodded, this time with eagerness. "Bye." She closed the door and Dudley was in the hallway alone. His feet slowly dragged him back to the elevator and he pulled his smartphone out to type a message.

'The dragon is appeased.' he typed and hit sent.
The answer he got was a picture. It was not shot by Kitty, Dudley could figure that out because he saw her in the photo sitting on a table with Carmelita. Both were holding shot glasses in their hands and between them a bottle of tequila was on the table.

A message followed the picture. 'Back at your apartment, you don't want to miss that.'
Dudley grinned, it was time to go home again. Maybe this evening could be fun after all.