Disclaimer: The SWAT Kats are owned by Hanna Barbera and the Tremblay Brothers. I own the OCs.
There is way too much emotion in this chapter. I made a mess out of it but Misarae fixed it. THANK YOU!
A very brief reminder,
Jake got up from his seat and took Felina's paw in his. Then they walked back to the lobby elevators, which would take them back to their room to change.
Jake and Felina arrived back in their rooms and started rummaging through their luggage to find the swim wear that had been packed for them. Jake found a pair of swim trunks, and Felina found what she guessed could be classified as a bikini. She held it up and asked Jake, "Shouldn't there be more fabric on this swimsuit?"
Jake turned to see what Felina was talking about, and saw what she was holding up in her paws. He walked over to Felina and took the offending swimsuit from her. Then said, "No way are you going to wear this on a public beach, Felina. If it was just the two of us, then I would not mind seeing you in it, but this hotel does not have a private beach. There has to be another swimsuit in that bag."
Felina dug further into the bag and found another swimsuit. This one was a one-piece that had a modest neckline and was not overly high cut in the leg. They both changed into their swimwear and grabbed a beach towel from the closet before leaving their room. Since the hotel had a strict policy about having guests in the lobby dressed in swimwear, they were forced to use the rear elevator that opened up to where the pool was located. They left the room through a door by the kitchenette and walked down the hallway to the hotel's rear elevator. Jake hit the call button and the elevator's doors opened, letting them in. Felina looked at the control panel and saw that there were two buttons that could be used to get them to the beach. One of the buttons would take them to the pool, and the other would bring them to a walkway that led directly to the beach. Felina chose the first. The elevator descended at a decent pace, letting them out on the same floor as the lobby, but in the rear of the hotel. The doors opened up, and the first thing that they saw was a tacky gift shop that sold sunscreen, various pool toys, and such.
As they left the elevator, Jake turned to Felina and asked, "How quickly do you burn in the sun?"
Felina had never really thought about getting a sunburn, since she never had a chance to actually lay out in the sun and relax. She was always either working or working out in the gym. Felina answered, "I have no idea, Jake. I have not sunbathed since I was a kitten, and when we went as a group to the beach, we spent most of the time in the water, so I really do not remember."
"Just to be on the safe side, then, I am going to get a bottle of sunscreen. If you don't mind, wait here and I will be right back," Jake said. Then he picked up her paw and kissed it.
As Felina watched Jake walk into the store, she thought to herself, "It is only our first day as an engaged couple, and I am already having the time of my life with Jake by my side. He is awakening feelings in me that I have never felt before, and I love it. If being married feels anything like this, then I can hardly wait to walk down the aisle and become his wife." Felina just smiled as she waited and watched her fiancé through the shop window.
Jake emerged from the shop and walked back to Felina, taking her paw in his again. Then he said, "All set. We are not going to get a sunburn with this stuff. I was also told as I was paying for the sunscreen, that we have a cabana reserved for us right by the edge of the water. Shall we hit the beach?"
Felina didn't answer. She was still caught up in her thoughts as Jake led her out of the hotel, past the pool, and onto the beach. She felt like she was in heaven her feet sunk into the warm sand of the beach.
Jake turned his head to look at his fiancée's face and saw that she was very happy. He brought her paw up to kiss it, then said, "Just seeing you so happy, Felina, warms my heart. I love you." He kissed her paw.
Felina heard what Jake said and felt the kiss. She turned her head to face him and replied, "I love you, too."
They walked to where the cabanas were and flagged down the attendant. Jake gave the attendant his name, and the attendant led them to the cabana that was reserved for them. He told Jake that the cabana was theirs to use as long as they were staying at the hotel. Jake thanked him and got into the cabana with Felina. Once inside, they were both beyond impressed with what they saw. The cabana had ceiling fans, a small wet bar, a flat screen TV, radio, a love seat, and three chaise lounges with cushions. Instead of a fabric ceiling, as they had expected, the ceiling was lined with skylights that flooded the entire cabana with sunlight. Jake and Felina sat in the love seat paw in paw, enjoying the warm sun.
After an hour of being confined to their quarters with Turmoil, T-Bone started to pace, since he did not know what to do with himself. He thought to himself as he paced, "This would not be so bad if I was alone with Empress/Callie, but I am stuck in here with Katerina. She is trying to be a good friend and keep me out of Dark Kat's range of fire, but I can't shake the feeling that she is up to something. When did she start wearing the same perfume as Callie? I am going to have to keep on my toes around her."
Turmoil saw T-Bone pacing around their room like a caged tiger, and his glances at her were starting to get on her nerves slightly. She eventually said, "Would you please stop pacing? You are going to wear a rut in the floor."
"I live for action, Turmoil. Being cooped up in here with nothing to do is driving me crazy, and what is with your perfume? Are you trying to get me to seduce you or something? Well that ain't happening, lady!" T-Bone shouted.
Turmoil was upset at T-Bone's exclamation. She clenched her fists, tears forming in her eyes. Her voice cracked as she said, "How can you even think that, T-Bone? I know that you are madly in love with Empress. You would never do anything to hurt her, and you will never be mine! Do you think so little of me that I would try to steal you away from her? Well, do you?"
T-Bone had no idea what to say. He realized that Turmoil still harbored feelings for him, and that she was hurting because he was in love with Empress. He slowly made his way to her side and pulled her into a tight hug. Then he said to her, "I am truly sorry, Katerina. I had no idea that you still cared for me that way." T-Bone felt horrible for accusing her of trying to steal him away from Empress. He felt a tear forming in his right eye as he said softly to her, "I had no idea that being this close to you would hurt you so much. When I visited you in prison, I was trying help you get rehabilitated so you could get out of that hole as fast as possible. After a few visits, I felt a friendship forming between us. I liked knowing that we could be friends, and that I could be someone you could depend on, even after what happened between us. I never thought that you wanted anything more than friendship. If things were different, then we might have had a shot at being a couple." He stopped at the surprising thought that if he had never met Callie, he actually could have fallen for Katerina. T-Bone looked away from her for a second before turning back to meet her gaze, then said, "But they are not. I am engaged to marry Empress. I will not let whatever is between us interfere with what I have with her. What I am saying is, if you and I cannot stay just friends, then we cannot see each other ever again, once Dark Kat has been defeated." T-Bone then tightened his grip on her, hopefully to get her to realize that he valued their friendship.
Katerina buried her face in T-Bone's shoulder and cried until she could not cry any longer. She looked up into T-Bone's eyes, and saw that she wasn't the only one suffering. Yes, deep down, she had been hoping that after all was said and done, that they would start a romantic relationship. However, once T-Bone had told her that he and Empress were engaged, she knew that she could never have the type of relationship with him that she yearned to have. Katerina wiped her tears away, then said, "I do love you, T-Bone. Every time that you visited, I hoped that you would ask me for a date when I got out of prison. That was one of the main reasons that I was trying so hard to change. After the first few months, I came to realize that I could do more on the right side of the law than on the wrong side. As long as you were coming every week to visit, I knew that I could change my life forever, and be the good she-cat that had been buried inside me for so long. As time went by, my inner strength grew, and you were a very large part of that happening. That day when Dark Kat broke me out of prison, the first thing I thought was 'What is T-Bone going to think of this?' And the second was to get help." Katerina felt her tears forming again, so she wiped them away, then continued, "You were the only thing that kept me going for those first few months, until I learned to stand on my own. I can never repay you for that. My feelings for you grew stronger each day. Now that you have told me that you are engaged to marry Empress, I am both happy for you that you found someone to share your life with, and heartbroken that I can never be with you the way that I wanted to for so long. What I do know is that I need to have you in my life. If that means that we will only ever be friends, then that is what we will be. I am sorry if I hurt you." Katerina kissed his cheek.
"Friends it is then, Katerina. I hope that one day you and Empress will become friends, too. I can't have my two best girls be at war with each other, now can I?" T-Bone said teasingly, trying real hard to lighten the mood.
"No, you can't. I will meet this Empress in time, and I will do my best to make her a friend," Katerina said.
T-Bone could not believe what he was about to do, especially in Dark Kat's lair. He said, "As long as we trust each other, I am going to let you in on a real big secret. You have to swear that you will not tell another living soul."
"What are you saying, T-Bone? I already trust you with all my being, and I truly hope that you trust me just as much," Katerina said.
T-Bone took a couple of deep breaths and looked into Katerina's eyes. Then he said, "You have already met Empress."
"No, I have not met Empress, T-Bone. Are you delirious or something?" Katerina said with worry.
T-Bone took Katerina's paws in his and said, "Here goes nothing. Empress and Callie Briggs are the same she-cat, just as T-Bone is the same tom as Chance Furlong." He removed his mask, his eyes never leaving hers.
Katerina could not believe what she was seeing or hearing. Empress was the Deputy Mayor! She had no idea who Chance Furlong was, but she was determined to find out. Then she said, "I had no idea. So now what, Chance.. Er.. T-Bone," she was not sure what to call him anymore.
Chance re-donned his mask before someone or something came by and looked in. Then he said, "T-Bone is fine, Katerina. Once this whole thing is over and done, all of us are going to have a very long talk as to where this goes from here."
Katerina was still full of questions, so she asked, "So who are Caliber and Razor, then?"
"I cannot reveal their identities without their consent," T-Bone said.
After a few minutes, they moved back to the bed and sat down, still clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it.
Katerina finally spoke, "I found the bug and disabled it a few hours ago. Dark Kat has no knowledge of anything you just said."
They just sat there holding each other for the rest of the afternoon.
Callista and Callie were real busy in the antiques shop. Once the word got out that two really gorgeous she-cats were manning the shop, it was crawling with toms, trying to get dates with either of them.
Callie just blushed at a few of the toms' requests and showed her ring to them. They backed off, but still managed to buy something.
Callista was not having the same luck. A bunch of frat toms came in looking for something to hang on their wall. She showed them a few old swords and shields, but the only thing that they really seemed interested in was her backside and tail in the body-hugging jeans that she wore. Callista finally said to the toms, "Surely, I must have shown you something by now that fits your requirements?"
One of the larger toms reached over and placed his arms around her waist, then said, "Yes, pretty she-cat, you have. Now why don't you and your equally hot sister over there come with us? We will show you both how us fraternity toms like to party."
Callista was now enraged. In all her years of life, she had never been treated in such a rude manner! She forcefully removed the tom's arms, and said, "I suggest that you all leave now!"
The large tom laughed at Callista, then said, "Now, what is a pretty little she-cat like you going to do? Claw at me with those beautiful paws of yours?"
That was the last straw for Callista. She yelled, "Persival!"
Persival burst through the backroom door at his mistress' call, claws and teeth bared, snarling and growling at the offending toms. His wings, however, could not be seen thanks to the concealment collar he wore.
Callista and Callie stood behind Persival and crossed their arms. Then Callista said to the toms, "If you don't leave right now, Persival will escort you out piece by piece. If you get my drift."
Persival took a cue from Callista and raked one of his paws across the floor. A several pieces of the floor came up to curl around his razor sharp claws.
The toms started to back out of the store at the sight of the very large, and obviously, very angry puma snarling aggressively at them. Two of the toms were so scared of Persival, they actually soiled themselves. They all ran from the store as fast as possible.
Once the toms were gone and the store was empty, Persival retracted his claws, turned to his mistresses, and asked, "Are miladies alright?"
"We are fine, Persival. In all my years of existence, I have never been treated so rudely." Callista said.
Callie remembered the look on the toms' faces as Persival came out of the back room, and started laughing. It had been hilarious to see such macho toms turning tail and running for their lives. Then she asked Callista, "How come you didn't just zap them out of the store or something?"
"I could have used something called 'Glamour', which would have compelled them to leave without further incident and they would not remember a thing, but having Persival here scare them into leaving was much more entertaining. Don't you think, Callie?" Callista said rather calmly.
"Yes, it was, but don't you have to worry about them calling the Enforcers or animal control on Persival?" Callie asked.
Callista chuckled at her granddaughter's question. She responded, "The Enforcers in this precinct are acquaintances of mine. I knew most of them as kittens when they came here asking for supplies for their scout troops. As they grew, they would come by just to check on the kind she-cat that had always been there to help them in their time of need. As far as animal control, they are a bunch of bumbling fools. The last time someone complained that there was a puma in this shop, the only thing that the animal control personnel saw was a tiny black cub, who could not harm anyone even if it tried, sleeping in the corner."
Sure enough, two Enforcers showed up about five minutes later. They entered, took off their hats out of respect, and said, "Ma'am, did those frat toms cause you any trouble at all? If they did, we will take care of it personally. You have always been the nicest she-cat to us all since we were kittens ourselves. When dispatch told us that there was an incident here, we could not believe it. We had to rush over and make sure that you were alright."
Callista said, "Thank you, Mike, for rushing over here. Yes, one of the toms grabbed me and they were all very rude, but no real harm was done."
The Enforcer called Mike was furious. How dare those toms lay a paw on her! He finally said, "You will never have to worry about seeing those toms in here again. We are going to make sure that they get a lesson in how to treat a she-cat properly, and I am almost sure that the Commander himself will want to teach that lesson personally, once he finds out who those toms had laid a paw on. Have a good day, Ma'am. Deputy Mayor." The Enforcers left.
Callie watched the Enforcers leave, then she turned to Callista and said, "I sort of feel sorry for those toms. They are going to have to deal with Feral directly. If the Commander does anything similar to what his niece did when a tom grabbed her backside while we were running, those toms are going to get a lesson that they are never going to forget."
"Don't fret over them, Callie. I'll call the Commander and smooth things over with him before he goes and deals with those toms," Callista said. Then she placed her arm around Callie's shoulders and petted Persival.
"You are too kind, grandma. Oops, sorry Callista. You know the Commander?" Callie asked.
Callista looked at the floor briefly. She wasn't sure what to say. Talking about her love life, even if it was from long before Callie was even born, was slightly embarrassing. She eventually looked back at Callie and said, "The Commander and I used to date, before I met your grandfather."
Her grandmother and the Commander had dated when they were younger! Callie just had to know more. She asked, with her tail swishing back and forth, "So, what happened? Please don't spare me the details either, Callista."
Callista sighed, since she knew that Callie was not going to give up until she got the answers that she was looking for. Callista said, "Ulysses was a senior in high school, and I was already running the shop. He stopped in one day, looking for donations so the school's football team could go to a tournament, or something like that. I came out of the back room wearing a sundress, since it was quite warm for an autumn day. He took one look at me, and couldn't stop staring. Then he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I could tell he was instantly infatuated with me, so I decided to play with him for a bit. I batted my eyelashes at him as I tended to the register, and he was putty in my paws. Then I decided to up the ante and climbed a ladder to get something so he could get a real good look at my legs.
"I ended up slipping. He rushed over and caught me in his strong arms, then I wrapped my arms around his neck. Before I could even say something as simple as 'thank you', he leaned forward and kissed me.
"As soon as he realized what he had done, he put me down and backed away. He didn't even know me, but he had kissed me, anyway. He apologized profusely, then ran from the shop with his tail between his legs.
"After that, he would come back to the shop every day after school, and just stand outside, looking in. He was obviously too afraid to actually come in and face me. It went on for weeks, then one day, I'd had enough. I grabbed a mug of hot milk and went out the back door of the shop.
"I came around to the front of the store, and he was still standing there, just staring in the window. So I went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped, obviously startled, then noticed the mug I was holding. I carefully wrapped his paws around it with mine until he could hold it on his own. Then he seemed to realize how close we were, so he took a few steps back with the mug in his paws.
"Ulysses regained his composure and said, 'Thank you. I don't even know your name.'
"I giggled ever so slightly, then said, 'My name is Callista.'
"He replied, 'What a beautiful name. It suits you perfectly.'
"I blushed, and he noticed it, which made me blush even harder.
"He took my paw and said, 'I know that this is forward, but would you go out on a date with me?'
"I already knew that I would say yes, but I didn't want him to think I was an easy catch. I said, 'I really don't know. We've only met once before, and you have been stalking the outside of my shop for weeks. How do I know that you are not just some creep trying to score with a she-cat?'
"Ulysses stiffened and said, 'I would never do that! My father would neuter me if I ever mistreated a she-cat!'
"I walked over to him and put my arms around his neck. Then I leaned in real close to his face, so our lips were a breaths' distance apart, and said in the most sultry tone I could manage, 'I would love to go on a date with you,' before giving him a light kiss on the lips.
"We dated for a few months, until he graduated. He signed up to go in the military. We had a few more dates after that, but it wasn't long before he received his orders. He was going to be shipped out for training all the way across the country the following week.
"When he told me the news, I broke down and cried into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and said, 'I'll be back in a few months, Callista, or you can come with me, if you want.'
"I knew that I could not go with him, so I kissed him one last time. Then I said, 'I can't go with you, Ulysses, no matter how much I may want to. I have to stay here, so I guess this is so long, for now.' I turned and just left him standing there."
Callista looked away from Callie as she teared up.
Callie wrapped her arms around Callista and stroked the back of her head, just like Callista always did to comfort her. Callie said after a few minutes, "I'm sorry, Callista. I should not have pushed you."
"You didn't push me, Callie. If I hadn't wanted to tell you that story, I wouldn't have." Callista wiped her eyes, then said, "Are you hungry for lunch? I know Persival must be. If I don't feed him on time, he will start eating the furniture."
They closed up the shop and went back up to the apartment to have lunch and feed Persival.
End of Chapter