"Crud? That's all you have to say?" Vivian asked as Chance looked up at her. His eyebrows furrowed. "What else do you want me to say Vivian?! Oh, good for us?! I'm happy about this?! How did this happen?! I thought you said you were on birth control?!" He said, raising his voice at her. His emotions were running high as were his thoughts. "I was until Dad katnapped me. I ended up accidentally missing a few pills after getting captured and then ended up in the hospital. I couldn't exactly ask for my pills while being captured or in the hospital." Chance smacked the side of his head, and then ran his hand through his hair, knocking his red cap off. "I should've known better than to trust a pill over the rubber. I knew not to do that, but I was so caught up in the moment with you, both times and did it anyway...How could I have been so stupid?!" Chance said, blaming himself. She gently put her hand on his shoulder. "It would've worked had I not missed any pills. You're not stupid, Chance. It's not as bad as you're thinking-" Vivian started, trying to comfort her boyfriend, but he cut her off.
"Not as bad as I'm thinking?! Vivian, I can barely make it myself with this debt hanging over my head. Now I gotta take care of you and a kit too?! You'll probably take me to court and make the city take kit support out of what's left of my scrawny paycheck. I'll be beyond screwed!" She grabbed on to his arm and made him look at her. "Chance, do you really think all I want from you is money? I still love you. I still want you. We might have not meant to do this so early in our relationship, but he or she will be ours, a piece of us. A representation of the love we share." Chance shook his head. "You knew...didn't you? Before you got shot, I mean?" Vivian looked at him, confused. She cocked her head slightly. "What do you mean 'I knew'?" His eyes narrowed at her. "You knew you were pregnant when you got shot. One of the last things you said to me before you passed out was 'too bad we didn't get to see what our kits would've looked like'. You knew then, didn't you?" Vivian shook her head, looking at him a bit shocked. "I didn't, Chance. I swear! I just found out a couple of hours ago!" She said. He looked at her angrily.
"You're lying." He said to her, coldly. "I swear, I'm not! I didn't know! I didn't mean for this to happen-" She desperately tried to explain to him. Chance got up from the couch, jerking his arm out of her grasp. "I thought you were different, Vivian. I didn't think you'd ever trick me like that. You're just like every other she-Kat in this city." Vivian felt like someone had stabbed her directly in the heart at his cold words. He picked up his cap and started walking out of the garage. Jake had heard the whole thing. "Chance! Hold up! Where are you going?!" He said, chasing after his friend. "Either get in the car, Jake, or stay here. I don't care which, but make your choice quick because I'm getting out of here!" Chance growled. Jake looked back at Vivian and then at Chance and quickly got in the car with him. Vivian heard him start the car, peeling out as he backed up out of the spot, and then once again peeling out of the junkyard and speeding off.
Vivian sat on the couch, biting her lip, trying to hold back tears. 'Oh my gods, he reacted way worse than I thought he would. I need to get out of here for a while. I can't talk to Lilian right now. She might blab to Dad and make everything way worse. Who can I go talk to?' She thought, pulling her cell phone out. She scrolled through her contacts for a while until she landed on Callie. She sighed. 'It's a long shot and I don't know her that well, but right now, I don't have many other options.' She hit the call button for Callie and waited. She actually picked up after a couple of rings. "Hey, Callie. Can I possibly come over? I need someone to talk to."
About thirty minutes later, Chance and Jake were at the local bar. Chance was obviously trying to drown his worries with alcohol. Jake watched him down his third beer in the last thirty minutes. He was obviously trying to get trashed beyond recognition. "I should've never chased after that she-Kat, Jake. I wouldn't be in this situation right now if I had just left her alone." Jake shook his head. "Maybe if you had kept it in your pants or flight suit, would be the right wording, buddy." He said, chuckling slightly. Chance shot him a glare. Jake winced as Chance took another sip of his beer. He sighed.
"Weren't you saying not too long ago you would jump at the chance to have kits with someone? Anyone? That you weren't getting any younger?" Jake asked as he shook his head. "That was me talking crud, Jake. I didn't mean it. Now that it's actually happening, I'm terrified. Will that kit be like me? I know how bad I was as a teenager. My Mom couldn't control or stop me." Jake took a sip of his beer. "Chance, you're one of the best toms I know. If that kit is anything like you, the city, the world, would be lucky to have them, especially if they become an awesome pilot too." Chance thought for a moment.
"What if it's a girl, Jake? Holy kats, a girl version of me?! I'll be a grandfather by 40!" He said, banging his head slightly on the bar. Jake shook his head and put a hand on his shoulder. "Not if you raise her right. You can have the same problems with a boy too. It won't be the same for them like it was for you, Chance. They'll have both parents." Chance lifted his head and turned to his friend.
"Them...oh gods, Jake! What if she's pregnant with multiples?! I'm gonna need two...maybe three more jobs and it still won't be enough!" Jake pat him on the back. "You won't be doing it by yourself, Chance. Vivian still wants you in her life. She loves you. She wouldn't have told you if she didn't or if she didn't want to raise this kit with you. She has her own job, she can help." Chance huffed. "Yeah, sure. Most she-Kats want to quit their jobs once they get pregnant and leave it up to the tom." Jake smiled. "She's not like most she-kats, buddy, and you know that. I mean there's also the other options. Adoption or uhm...getting rid of it." Chance glared at this. "So give my kit away or kill them before they even have a chance to live? Neither one of those are options, Jake." He said, as he placed his face against his folded hands that were leaned on the bar. He sighed and Jake shook his head.
"I don't want to ask her to marry me either, pal. I know I love her and she loves me, but I'm not sure if it's a forever thing or not yet, you know? And I don't want her to marry me either just because I got her pregnant. That only ends in resentment and heartbreak. A lot of the Kats I know that got married or had kits straight out of highschool are getting divorced now or aren't together anymore. I don't want a broken family for her, myself, or our kit. I don't want her to end up hating me or me resenting her." Chance said, taking hold of the fresh beer the bartender placed on the bar in front him. Jake sighed and shook his head, unsure of what he should tell his friend to do or what to say to make him feel even the least bit better.
Across the city, Vivian was sitting on the couch in her pajamas with Callie at Callie's apartment. She had poured some wine for herself and handed Vivian a glass with clear liquid. "Oh no, I can't Callie. I don't know if I've already unknowingly hurt this kit with the pills. I don't want to hurt them any further with alcohol..." she said, offering it back to Callie. She shrugged. "Oh no, it's just water in a wine glass." Vivian brought the glass back to herself, looking down into it, wishing she could just drown herself in it so she wouldn't have to be in this situation.
"So, Chance didn't take the news well?" Callie asked as Vivian shook her head. "He thinks I've known for a while because of something I said when I was dying in his arms. I just found out a few hours ago." Callie just nodded. "And he didn't believe you?" Vivian shook her head. "No. He said I was lying to him and that I tricked him. He looked so angry and hurt. I don't blame him though." Vivian said, shaking her head. Callie sighed. "Well, Chance can be a little hotheaded and quick to make rash decisions, but once he cools down a little, I'm sure he'll want to work things out with you. He loves you. He would make a great Dad. He's so protective over those he loves. You see how fiercely he protects this city."
"He already told me he doesn't want kits right now, Callie. Maybe someday, but not right now." She said as Callie looked at her a little surprised. "He told you this after he found out?" She asked as Vivian shook her head. "No, before I found out. I suspected I was and asked to see if I could gauge what his reaction might be. It was way worse than I had imagined." She said, trying to hold back tears. "He's so worried about me taking him to court for kit support. I don't think he even considers the fact that I still have my job and I don't plan on giving that up. Besides they have great benefits and three months paid maternity leave." Callie shrugged. "Most she-kats give up their jobs for a while or sometimes forever after they get pregnant. Maybe that's what he's thinking? At any rate, he's going to have to tom up and deal with it. He had a part in making it or them. It's not like you did it all by yourself. That kit's in there weather he likes it, or not." Callie said, taking a sip of her wine. "Have you thought about maybe the A word?"
Vivian glared at her on accident. "I could never kill something that Chance and I created." Callie shook her head. "No, not that A word. I mean adoption. Maybe Jake and I could adopt your kit. We were planning on trying after the wedding anyway." Vivian's heart still broke at the thought of anyone else raising their kit but them. Then the thought of seeing that kit happy with Jake and Callie, not being able to tell them she was their mother and Chance was their father would crush her. She shook her head. "I can't do that either, Callie. Sorry. Maybe if you guys absolutely couldn't have any of your own, but just to clean up mine and Chance's mess? No." Callie shrugged. "I appreciate the offer and hopefully I won't have to take you up on that. So, are you going to let him know you're keeping it?" Vivian nodded. "I don't have much of a choice." Callie picked up her phone and stared dialing the garage. "What are you doing, Callie?"
"Calling the garage to see where the guys are. Hmmm...not answering. Did they say where they were going?" Callie asked as Vivian shook her head. "No, they didn't." Callie reached over to the table next to the sofa to grab her purse. She dug through it and fished out her triangular looking communicator for the Swat Kats. Vivian recognized it as it was similar to the one T-Bone gave her as Shadow Kat. Callie walked into her room, leaving Vivian alone. "I know this isn't a Swat Kats emergency, but we need to find them." Callie said as she hit the button.
Meanwhile back at the bar, Chance was laughing hysterically. Obviously three sheets to the wind in terms of drunkenness. "Chance, can you be just a little more quiet? There are other people in the bar, you know." Jake said as Chance looked over at him, smiling. "Sorry pal. Just trying to enjoy my last little bits of freedom before it all goes down the drain in a matter of months!" Jake heard a faint beeping sound coming from his pants. "Crud, Callie's calling us and you are in no shape to fly." Chance only gave him a big dumb smile. Jake got up and found a secluded corner so he could talk to Callie. "Razor here. What's happening, Callie? The Metallikats again?"
"Jake, I know you told me not to use this for non-swat emergencies, but I needed to find you guys. Vivian's here and we need to get this whole thing sorted out with her and Chance." She said as Jake answered. "Uh...he's not exactly in the headspace to talk rationally right now."
"What?! Why not?! Are you guys out at a bar or something?!" Callie responded both surprised and a little pissed. "Uh...maybe?" Jake replied. He wasn't very good at lying, especially to his fiancé.
"Jake..." She warned him. "Okay! Okay! Chance drove to the bar! He's had quite a few, but I've only had one. We just came here to talk because he wanted to. He's freaking out over the possible kitten situation, bad."
"Both of you come over and spend the night so we can run interference and sort this out in the morning to help them out." Callie said as Jake's eyes went wide. "Are you sure that's safe? A drunk angry tom and a hormonal pregnant she-Kat?" He asked. "Is he angry now?" Callie asked. "No, not now, but he's a little unpredictable." He said. "Just come over!" She hissed slightly.
Jake shook his head as he walked back to Chance. "Time to save the chity, buddy?" He asked, slurring his words. "Nope, and even if it was, you're in no shape to fly. We are going though." Jake said as he started gently pulling Chance by his arm off the bar stool. He stood up, following Jake's lead. "Oh. Home?" Chance asked. "Nope. Going somewhere else." Jake said as Chance cocked his head. "Another bar?" Jake rolled his eyes, knowing Chance couldn't see him. "You'll see."
Back at Callie's apartment, she came out of her room to see Vivian was still sitting on the couch, sipping her water. "So, did you find them?" Vivian asked as Callie smiled. "Yes I did. They're on their way here." Vivian spit out her water and her eyes went wide. "What?! Why would you do that Callie?!" Callie blushed. "And...Chance might be a little drunk...okay, a lot drunk, but the drunk mind speaks the sober heart and maybe he'll be easier to talk to and work things out with-" Vivian cut in, crying out. "While he's under the influence?!" Callie gave her a sheepish look. "Well...yeah..." Vivian threw her hands in the air and started pacing Callie's living room.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at Callie's apartment door. Vivian waited nervously to see Chance. Callie went to open the door to see Jake with Chance's arm slung over him. "Good thing you have an elevator, babe. I don't think I could've gotten the big guy here up that many flights of stairs by myself." He said as he started into Callie's apartment. "What are we doing here, Jake? And why is Callie here?" Chance asked, very inebriated. "It's her place, pal. We brought you here to try and work things out with Vivian." Jake said as Callie closed the door. Chance narrowed his eyes when he saw Vivian on the couch. "I'm outta here."
He said angrily, taking his arm back from Jake and turning for the door. Being drunk didn't help and his balance was thrown off. He ended up falling over near the door. "Crud..." He said, shaking his head. Before anyone could say or do anything, Vivian walked past Callie and Jake. She stooped down to his level as he sat up on the floor. "Chance, please, let us help you." He looked up at her. She could see the mix of drunkenness, hurt, and worry in his eyes. He grabbed her, pulling her to him. She let out a surprised squeak and a 'ooof!' as he shoved her hard into his chest. He hugged her. "Viv, I missed you." Vivian couldn't help but hug him back. Even though it had only been a few hours since she last saw him, she missed his touch and his warmth. She felt a tingle go down her spine when he embraced her. "I'm sorry I knocked you up." He said as he continued to hold on to her. Everyone had to hold back a snicker or a laugh. "You're not that great with words when you're sober, pal. You're even worse when you're drunk." Jake said. Vivian pulled back and looked up at him.
"Maybe you two should talk in the morning. Come on, Chance. We'll make you a bed on the couch." Callie said, making her way to the linen closet. Chance held on to Vivian more. "No! I'm gonna stay with her." Callie shook her head and looked at Vivian. "Are you gonna be okay sharing a bed with Drunkie McGhee over here?" Vivian smiled slightly. "I think I'll be okay." She got up out of the floor and gently pulled on Chance's hands. "Come on. Let's get to bed." He grumbled a little as he got up with her pulling him up. She caught him as he stumbled a little.
"Oh! Be careful in your condition!" Callie said as Vivian looked over at her. She smirked and lifted an eyebrow at her. "I'm pregnant, not broken, Callie." Chance drunkenly leaned down and nuzzled himself into the crook of her neck. "Mmm...so warm." He mumbled. She shivered. He started kissing and nipping at her neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist. She instantly blushed, feeling a tingle coming down from her neck to more intimate places. "Ah! Chance!"
'Oh great. Now he's drunk and horny!' She thought to herself, trying to get him to stop. He growled in her ear, whispering so that Callie and Jake wouldn't hear him. "I need you, Viv. Let's make more kittens." She pursed her lips, her eyes went wide, and the blush grew a deeper shade of red. "Uh...uhm...let's...let's deal with the one we're already having and talk about more later, okay?" She said as she stepped out of his arms. Chance shrugged, already forgetting what he said. "Okay."
She took his hand again and started leading him to the guest room. He complied and followed her. "See you in the morning, you two!" Callie called as Vivian looked back at her. "Yeah. Goodnight, Callie. Jake." She said. "'Night!" Chance called over his shoulder as he followed her in and the door closed. Callie smiled slightly. "I think they'll be made up by morning time. Possibly even before." She said as Jake wrapped his arms around Callie's waist. "You little minx, you sort of planned this, didn't you?" He said, kissing her shoulder. Callie smiled a knowing smile, turning around in his arms. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You'll never know." She said as she leaned in to kiss him.