SWAT Kittens

by Youkai55

Chance finally realizes what is important in his life. He starts dating, marries, and has triplet female kittens. Of course, there are bumps and bruises along the way and a few villains that have to have their say in his plans. Rated: "T" to be safe. Please take the "Genres" with a grain of salt. There is something in here for all. Enjoy.

44. Chance's Judging

Disclaimer: The SWAT Kats are owned by Hanna Barbera and The Tremblay Brothers. I own the OCs.

This was a very hard chapter to write. There is so much darkness in this chapter that I still tear up as I read it. After this chapter, things get brighter again. I guess you can say that it is always darkest before the dawn.

Thanks again to my Co-Author MisaRae.

Katerina made her way to the TurboKat 2 and got in the gunner's seat. She strapped herself in, while Caliber closed the canopy. Caliber started the engines and checked the flight controls before taking off towards the hangar. As they flew through the sky, Caliber handed Katerina a blindfold and said, "Please put this on. I don't know what T-Bone has told you about us, but until I do, I can't divulge the location of

Katerina held the blindfold in her paws. Before she placed it on her face, she looked out of the canopy at the speeding ambulance with T-Bone in it. With a tear in her eye, she whispered, "God's speed in your recovery, T-Bone." She then slowly placed the blindfold on.

Ulysses was driving like a madman. He weaved in and out of traffic, blowing through intersections with the car's lights and sirens blaring. Every once in a while, he glanced at the feminine form in his rearview mirror. Ulysses thought to himself, "The Deputy Mayor is Callista's granddaughter! How is that even possible? I can see them being aunt and niece, or cousins, but her granddaughter? And why did Felina insist on me bringing Callie to Callista instead of the hospital? There is something that she is not telling me. I'll have to ask Callista, once I get there."

Ulysses arrived in front of Callista's shop in seven minutes. He would have to answer to the Commissioner for his driving once the complaints about him cutting cars off and flying through red lights with no apparent care started pouring in, but that was the last thing on his mind. He got out of the car and quickly ran to the rear passenger door. Ulysses opened the door and removed Callie from the rear seat. He covered her sleeping body with his coat to hide her from any prying eyes that might be present. He carried Callie to Callista's apartment door and pushed the doorbell.

Callista was an absolute nervous wreck. She was so worried about Callie and her newly found family that she could not sit still. She was pacing around her living room, dusting and straightening books and knickknacks that she had collected over the years that didn't really need straightening, when she heard her doorbell ring. Stunned, Callista put down her dust rag and walked calmly downstairs to her door. She opened it and saw Ulysses standing there, holding a rather large bundle in his arms. She asked, "Ulysses, what are you doing here? I figured that you would be at the treasury building with the rest of the Enforcers."

Ulysses moved his arm slightly, causing the coat to shift and reveal Callie's head and said, "Felina asked me to bring Callie here. She said that you were the only one that could take care of her. I don't know what that means, Callista, but Felina would never lie to me, especially about anything that has to do with her best friend."

Callista's mouth dropped open and she brought both paws up to cover her mouth. She quickly regained her composure and lowered her paws to her sides. She then said, "Please bring her upstairs, Ulysses." Callista moved aside, letting Ulysses pass her, then followed him up the stairs and into her apartment. She led him down a hallway and into Callie's bedroom. She said, "Please place her on the bed."

Ulysses did exactly as she asked and laid Callie down on the bed. He then backed away and watched Callista examine Callie. Nervously, he asked, "Callista, Felina said that you were Callie's grandmother and…"

Callista held up her left paw and said, "I will answer all your questions later, Ulysses, and I am sure that you have plenty of them. Right now I need to tend to Callie. If you would please excuse us so I can get her out of her SWAT gear and into bed."

Ulysses turned and left Callista to tend to Callie as she requested. Seeing her like that made his heart ache, and he longed to comfort her, but he realized that right now the best he could do was respect her wishes. He went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Once Callista heard the door close, she waved her paw over Callie, removing all her clothes. She placed her right paw on Callie's forehead and tried to reach into her mind to see what happened. Callista saw the TurboKat explode, and Callie use her powers to bring the TurboKat safely down to the ground Then the image faded into nothingness. It was now clear that Callie had overextended herself, and Callista feared that Callie might be in a coma as a result. Nervously, Callista concentrated hard and slowly waved her right paw over Callie's body, in order to make sure that Callie hadn't been physically injured. As her paw moved down Callie's form, she discovered that Callie's heart and lungs were perfectly fine, as well as the rest of her vital organs. Callista was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she discovered something else. There was something different about Callie's aura. Callista thought it was strange that Callie's aura would change in just a week. The last time Callista had felt a she-cat's aura change that rapidly had been when she was with child.

Callista stopped dead in her tracks. She thought, "Could Callie really be pregnant?" Callista brought her paw over Callie's abdomen and concentrated. She heard three very faint heartbeats, as well as saw three tiny little fetuses growing inside Callie. She smiled, knowing that she was going to be a great grandmother. Callista said to Callie, "You and Chance are going to be parents sooner than you thought, Callie, and now for the hard part." She reached out to Callie's mind in order to talk to her. She found Callie hugging Chance in purgatory. Callista entered Callie's mind in order to bring her back.

Razor brought up the rear as the ambulance and its Enforcer escort raced toward the hospital He wasn't paying attention to the road or anything else around him. He was too focused on T-Bone to think straight. As the escort leapfrogged through the intersections in order to clear a path for the ambulance, he sped up to get closer to the ambulance. Razor touched the ambulance briefly and choked up with worry. The ambulance arrived at the hospital and backed up to the ER entrance. The rear doors opened, and the techs unloaded T-Bone, who was strapped to a stretcher and had an oxygen mask attached to his face. T-Bone was still unconscious as he was wheeled into the ER. Razor parked the Cyclotron and followed T-Bone into the ER.

One of the hospital's security guards saw Razor running behind T-Bone and the techs. He yelled for Razor to stop, but the two Enforcers stopped the guard and told him what had happened. The guard let Razor into the ER.

T-Bone was transferred from the stretcher to a rolling gurney just before several doctors and nurses descended upon him and started connecting him to all sorts of monitors and IV drips. One of the doctors examined T-Bone's chest with a stethoscope, and heard that his breathing was very labored. The doctor quickly ordered that T-Bone be intubated in order to ease his breathing. They wanted to remove T-Bone's mask, but Razor stepped in and said, "Sorry docs, the mask stays. We need to protect our identities at all costs."

The chief surgeon walked over to Razor and said, "For what you SWAT Kats do for our city, and for rescuing my wife a few years ago from a mugger, I will allow him to keep the mask."

"Thank you," was all that Razor could muster at the moment.

All of the doctors and nurses were running around and treating T-Bone's injuries the best they could. Once they had him stabilized, they prepared to transfer him to the ICU so he could be watched 24/7 until he either woke up or passed on.

Razor definitely wasn't happy at the news, but it didn't surprise him. He followed T-Bone into the ICU, where they connected the monitors to a few connectors mounted on the wall. Once the move was completed, Razor found a chair in the corner, sat down, his entire body shaking. Several long moments ticked by before the dam finally broke, and tears ran down his face.

Callie was still clinging to Chance, not wanting to ever let him go. Then she felt a paw on her shoulder. Callie looked up and saw Callista. She was dressed in the same type of long white gown as Callie was. Callie asked, "What are you doing in my dreams, Callista?"

"Callie, you and Chance are not dreaming. You both are in a place called purgatory. It is a place between the real world and the afterlife," Callista replied.

Chance looked up at Callista and asked, "Did we both die?"

Callista didn't know how to answer him, so she simply said, "Callie is in a deep coma that I came to bring her back from. You, on the other hand, I do not know. You will have to wait and see."

Callie broke her gaze from Callista and turned to Chance with tears forming in her eyes. She said to him, "I don't want to live without you." She buried her face in his shoulder.

Chance brought his paw up and stroked her hair. He replied, "I don't want to live without you, either, Callie. I love you so much that what I am about to tell you hurts more than death itself." He paused for a minute, and then said after he pulled her from his shoulder, "You need to go back with Callista and keep on living. As much as I am going to miss seeing you, hearing you laugh, and growing old with you, I would never find any peace knowing that you were not out living your life."

Callista started crying, herself, at hearing that Chance loved Callie so much that he wanted her to go back to the living world instead of staying with him in the afterlife. She said though her tears, "Chance, hearing that you want Callie to go back and keep living her life made me realize that she could not have chosen a better tom to be her husband. I know that you love her, and she loves you. Your bond with her will never be broken, even in death." Callista turned her attention to Callie and said, "You will always have him in your life for all eternity, Callie, through your kittens. What I am telling you, Callie, is you are going to be a mother in about 7 months, from what I can tell."

Callie looked at Callista, and asked with a quiver in her voice, "I am pregnant? How do you know?"

"Ulysses brought you to my apartment after you rescued Chance from the TurboKat. I had to make sure that your magic hadn't caused any physical damage. That was when I discovered that your aura had changed to that of an expectant mother," Callista said to Callie.

Callie turned to Chance and said, "We are going to be parents, Chance! Now you have to come back. I am not going to raise our kitten by myself."

Chance was very happy that Callie was pregnant with his kitten. He got up and swung her around as tears flowed from his eyes.

A tan-furred she-cat with long black hair, all dressed in white with a pair of white feathery wings, showed up from out of nowhere and stood next to Callista.

Callista turned to the she-cat and saw that it was her Sergeant at Arms from the court. She said to her, "Amelia, it is good to see you again after all this time."

"It is good to see you, too, my Queen. You can take your granddaughter home with you with my Lord's blessing, but I have a job to do." She turned to Chance and said, "You need to come with me. My Lord Bast is waiting for us to pass judgment as to whether you are ready to enter the afterlife."

Chance nodded to Amelia, and then said to Callie, "You need to go with Callista. You don't belong here, and no matter what, I love you and will always be with you in your heart for all eternity." After he finished speaking, he let Callie go and started to walk towards Amelia, never looking back at Callie. Once he stood beside Amelia and Callista, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the white nothingness in front of him as he said, "Callista, please take care of Callie and our kitten, and tell Jake and Felina that I will miss them. Amelia, I am ready. Let's go meet Bast."

Amelia nodded at Chance, but before she took Chance away, she said to Callie, "Don't fret, Princess. My Lady Bast has seen this coming for years. She gives her blessing to you and your unborn kittens. They will all grow up very healthy and strong." Amelia then took Chance's paw and led him away. They disappeared into a white cloud.

Callie wrapped her arms around Callista's neck, and started a fresh round of tears as she buried her face in Callista's shoulder.

Callista returned Callie's embrace, and tried her best to calm Callie down, but it was not working. Callista knew of Callie's pain, since she had lost Steven, but this was different. Steven hadn't passed until after Callie's mother was an adult. Callie was facing raising three daughters by herself without the love of her life by her side. Callista said to Callie, "If I know Amelia, she will fight to get Chance back to you. You should have seen her when a tom broke my heart many years ago. She wouldn't leave my side while I cried into her shoulder, and when I finally fell asleep, she hunted that tom down and from what I was told, publicly kicked his tail so badly that he had to move away out of embarrassment from being beaten by a she-cat. Amelia was always loyal to me and my best friend, just as Felina is to you. Amelia would not want to see you in pain, any more than I do. Let's get you back home where you belong, and once you wake up, we will go and see Chance in the hospital." Callista pulled Callie and herself back to the living world. Callista got up from Callie's side and wiped away a stray tear. Before she left to go and answer the battery of questions from Ulysses, she said, "Amelia, please help Chance convince Bast to let him come back to us." Then she left Callie's room.

Callista had stopped in the kitchen before going into the living room to face Ulysses, when Persival arrived. He could tell Callista was extremely upset. He walked up to her and asked, "What is wrong, Milady?"

Callista turned to Persival and fell to her knees. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "I just brought Callie back from purgatory. Chance is probably being judged by Bast right now, and there is a chance that he might not come back."

Persival was very upset at himself that he had failed in his mission to protect Chance, and in doing so, had almost been the cause of his mistress's death. He said, "I am truly sorry that I had failed you and my mistress, Milday. When your granddaughter told me that I could go home, I had no reason to doubt that everything was under control. I should have known better than to leave her side. This is my fault, and I am ready to accept any punishment that you deem acceptable."

Callista was not surprised that Persival was blaming himself for what Callie was going through. He loved her and was very loyal to them both. Although, none of it was his fault. She replied, "Persival, this is not your doing. Dark Kat had planted a bomb in the TurboKat. There is no way you could have done anything to prevent this from happening."

Persival understood what Callista was telling him, but he still blamed himself for Callie almost dying. He said, "I am going to stay by her side until she wakes up. I will not leave her under any circumstance. She will be protected!" Persival removed himself from Callista's embrace and went to Callie's room. He went in and saw her lying on her bed, unconscious. A tear left his eye. Persival placed a paw on her and said, "This is all my fault, mistress. I should have not left your side." He removed his paw and curled up on the floor next to her bed.

Chance stood next to Amelia, in front of who could only be Bast. She had the head of a black panther, but the body of a normal she-cat. Amelia got down on one knee and motioned for Chance to follow suit. He did. Amelia spoke, "My Lady, I brought the one called Chance to you as requested."

Bast looked down at Chance and said, "You may rise."

Amelia and Chance rose and stood silently, waiting for Bast to pass judgment.

Bast looked directly at Chance and said, "You have done a lot of good for all cat-kind. Please tell me why I should not welcome you into my kingdom. You seem to have something holding you back."

Chance did not know how to address a goddess. He had never thought that he would be in a situation where what he said would impact whether he would be able to return to the land of the living, or be taken to the afterlife. He answered, "I have great love for a she-cat back in the living world. She means more to me than life itself, and I just found out that she is going to be the mother of my kitten. I so much want to marry her and raise our kitten together. Nothing else matters to me anymore. The only thing that I care about is her and my, scratch that, our kitten's happiness."

Bast thought about what Chance had just told her, his words weighing heavily on her. She considered them, and thought 'Is his love for this she-cat enough for him not to pass on? Does this she-cat feel the same about him?' Bast turned to Amelia and asked, "Amelia, you were Queen Callista's Sergeant at Arms, and can speak for her granddaughter's feelings for him, can you verify that what he claims is true? If he is not telling the truth, I will not hesitate to send him to Hades where he can rot."

Amelia did not even have to think about her answer. She replied, "My lord, I have seen the love shared between these two cats, and it goes very deep. What one feels, the other also experiences. Yes, she is pregnant with his kittens, according to my Queen. Callista would not tell a falsehood about something so serious."

Bast turned her attention back to Chance and said, "I have made my decision, Chance. Please kneel."

Chance did so, going down on one knee. As the seconds ticked by, his anxiety grew.

"Chance, as I said, you have done a great amount of good for your fellow cats over the years. I would be more than happy to see you cross over and be by Amelia's side, working with her to keep cats on the right path in life."

Chance's heart sank in his chest. Bast was going to take him away from Callie for all eternity. He prepared himself for that decision.

Bast then said, "Although, I cannot allow you to cross over yet. You have a great amount of work to do in the living world. Raising kittens to do the right thing is a very hard task, and you and your wife are going to excel at it. Amelia, please return him to his body, and Chance? I don't want to see you back here for a very long time, do you understand?"

Chance started to smile. Bast was going to let him return to the living and marry Callie! He was completely overjoyed. He rose and said to Bast, "Thank you, I will live my life to the fullest, and do my best to raise my kitten properly."

Bast replied, "I would not expect any less from you, Chance. I will be keeping an eye on you and your family from now on. Princess Callie is very special, and is destined for greatness in her life. You are quite fortunate to share such a pure and true love with a she-cat such as her." With that, Bast disappeared.

Chance turned to Amelia and said, "Thank you for vouching for me and Callie. I would never have been able to rest, knowing that Callie was mourning my loss, but what did Bast mean that she was going to keep an eye on me and my family?."

Amelia replied, "You are welcome, Chance. Now let's get you back to your body before Bast has a change of heart." Amelia returned Chance to his body, purposely not answering his question.

Razor sat with his head resting on the edge of the hospital bed that T-Bone was laying on. He kept running the morning's events through his mind as the heart monitor beeped every second or so. He thought to himself, "Was there something that I could have done to prevent this from happening? Maybe I should have placed more fire retardant material in the belly of the jet."

One of the doctors came into the room and checked the machines keeping T-Bone alive. He looked at Razor and said, "You should not beat yourself up; there was nothing you could have done to prevent this from happening. You are actually very lucky that he is so strong. That blast would have killed a weaker cat instantly. He is very lucky."

Razor looked up at the doctor and was about to say something when one of the machines monitoring T-Bone's brain waves started beeping and showing signs of life. The doctor looked at the monitor and said, "He is coming around, which is a very good sign that he is going to survive. Now we can take him to surgery and work on getting that bullet out of his leg. Go home and get some rest. He is still going to be out for a few days while his lungs heal from all that heat and smoke." Then the doctor left after making a few notes in T-Bone's chart.

Razor's mood lifted as he took out his phone and called Caliber to let her know what was happening.

Caliber had landed at the hangar and was refueling the TurboKat 2 while keeping an eye on Katerina. Her phone rang. She answered, "Yes?"

"Caliber, T-Bone is going to be alright. They are taking him up to surgery to get the bullet out of his leg, but his brain is showing signs of life again," Razor said into the phone.

Caliber felt better now that T-Bone was going to be alright. She replied, "What about his lungs? He took in a large amount of smoke up there."

"He is on a ventilator, and it will be while before his lungs heal. We won't know the extent of the damage for a few days. Have you heard from Callista about Empress yet?" Razor asked.

"Not a word, and I am really worried. I thought that I had lost her for a minute back there." Caliber said.

"Empress is strong. She is not going to go anywhere until she sees her niece or nephew. Have you heard from your uncle? He seemed more shocked than angry when we last saw him," Razor said.

"No, and I am not going to call him, either. He needs to process this whole SWAT thing in his mind. We will hear from him soon. What do you want me to do with Katerina? I have her here with me in the hangar," Caliber asked.

"We can't keep her there. She needs to go back to prison and finish her sentence. Doesn't your aunt still work there as a psychologist?" Razor asked.

"Yes, she does, although I have not spoken to her in some time," Caliber replied.

"Call her and tell her that you are bringing Katerina back. Hopefully, they will go easy on her," Razor replied.

Caliber replied, "I'll call her and see if she can help Katerina."

"I am going to go with T-Bone into the OR, even though the chief surgeon said that T-Bone could keep his mask on. I do not trust anyone outside our circle." A pair of orderlies came in to take T-Bone into surgery. Razor then said, "I have to go. They are here to take T-Bone into surgery to get the bullet out of his leg. I'll call you when he is out of surgery. I love you." He disconnected the call and followed T-Bone up to the OR.

Caliber placed the phone by her hip before saying, "Katerina, I just heard from Razor. T-Bone is going into surgery to remove a bullet that is in his leg. His lungs are damaged, but they won't know the extent of it for a few days. From what Razor had told me, T-Bone will be alright."

Katerina was thrilled that T-Bone was going to pull out of this mess that she gotten him into. She breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, "He was going to return me to prison to finish my sentence, and also talk to the DA on my behalf. I guess that is not possible now." Katerina turned and looked at the wall, before asking, "Can you bring me back to prison? I want to finish my time and start my life. I just hope that the DA will look past will look past my forced collaboration with Dark Kat and not charge me with another crime."

"You won't be charged, Katerina. I'll make sure of that. I will personally talk to the DA and tell him that this was not your fault, and if he has a problem with that, he's going to find my size 7 boot someplace real uncomfortable. Now, if you would excuse me for a minute, I need to make a call that you cannot hear," Caliber replied to Katerina before climbing the ladder that led to the garage. Once she was in the garage, she pulled out her phone again and dialed her aunt.

"Hello," Adara answered.

"It's your niece, Felina," Felina replied.

"I never thought that I would ever hear your voice again after what happened at the divorce trial. I just wanted out, but no, your uncle wanted to keep the marriage going no matter what just to save face. He made me so mad that I just had to take him down a notch. That is why I got up and punched him as hard as I could, right there in front of the judge." Adara said with malice through the phone.

"I am sorry that my uncle loved you enough that he wanted to keep the marriage intact, and it wasn't to save face. He did love you, Adara, more than you ever knew. You should have seen him when he literally crawled to my parents' door, begging for somewhere to stay and saying how he screwed his life up so badly. So don't go telling me that the divorce going badly was all his fault! If you would have listened to him instead of yelling at him because you could not get pregnant by him, for whatever reason, and driving him to leave you, maybe then you would not be the bitter she-cat that you are now! Believe me, if I did not have a major problem that needs your help, I would not be calling you. My uncle has been the father that I always wanted. My own father was so tied up with my brothers that he almost completely ignored me! Even when I did great in school or received scholarships and offers to go to colleges, he would always try to redirect the conversation to one of my brothers and say how proud he was of them. Uncle never did that! He always congratulated me when I received any award or commendation for anything I did. He never treated me as just 'The Girl' of the family that would do nothing worthwhile other than be a kitten-making machine! Uncle was always supportive of everything that I wanted to do or did in life, so if my supporting him in his time of need is going to be a major pain in the ass to you, auntie dear, then go screw yourself!" Felina ranted into the phone.

No one had ever spoken to Adara in such a manner. She was beyond angry at Felina. The only thing that she wanted to do was throw her phone at the wall and watch it shatter. Then she thought, if she did that, she would be no better than the patients that she treated in the prison. She could not let her anger get the better of her. Adara replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "So then, Miss Feral, what problem can I help you with that is so dire that you had to call your not-so-loving aunt?"

Felina was about to hang up the phone and drive over to the prison, just so she could go and kick some sense into her aunt, and if the situation were any different, she would. At least she would not have to go far if she were charged with assault. She would already be at the prison, so all she would have to do was find a nice, comfy cell to go and sit in for a while. Instead, Felina took the high road and replied, "I have Katerina with me. She wants to return to prison and finish her sentence. I am going to talk to the DA in the morning and convince him that she was only working with Dark Kat under duress. I need you to reacclimate her to prison life again. I assume that you were her doctor while she was there, so you know how she has turned her life around. Can you do that, Adara, or are you going to be the selfish and bitter cat that you are now? I don't care if you won't do it for me, but do it for Katerina. She is going to need all the help that she can get."

"Alright Felina, bring Katerina back to prison and I will do what I can to help her." Adara paused as her tone changed. She then said, "Now, my dearest niece, if you ever speak to me in such a manner again, I will come over there and kick your tail so hard that you will have to look for it in your throat!"

"I would like to see you try, Adara. By the way, Uncle has reunited with an old flame. Someone who actually appreciates him for who he is, not like some she-cats I know who can't see what they gave up." Felina disconnected the call before her aunt had a chance to say anything that would make her want to use her sniper skills. Although, Felina did mutter to herself, "Uncle is better off without that self-righteous bitch in his life. Too bad he was deployed before he had a chance to ask Callista to marry him. She would have made a great aunt." Felina chuckled at that thought, and made her way back to the hangar while trying to figure out how to change from being Caliber to Felina again without revealing her identity to Katerina.

Callista left the kitchen and returned to the living room where Ulysses was watching the news report, sitting on the couch and staring at the television in disbelief.

Ann Gora was reporting from the wrecked TurboKat and was saying, "Where is the Mayor? Where is the Deputy Mayor, and where is the Commander? No one seems to know where the leaders of the city are in this time of crisis."

Callista turned the TV off, walked over to the couch, and sat on Ulysses' right.

Ulysses sighed and said, "I have so many questions that I don't know where to start." He did manage to take her left paw in his and give it a comforting squeeze before asking, "How is Callie doing?"

Callista looked at the floor briefly while she decided how much she was willing to confide in him at the moment. She lifted her head and turned to face Ulysses. She replied, "She is sleeping very soundly, and will be for the rest of the day."

""Good. Apparently some bystanders are reporting that they saw her use some sort of energy to slow the TurboKat's descent before she passed out. I have no idea what that meant, and it is weighing heavily on my mind right now. Then there is Felina. Before I brought Callie over here, Felina revealed to me that she is Caliber. If Callie is Empress, and that would make Chance, T-Bone. The SWAT Kats have been thorns in my side since they came to this city, and I hated them for being able to do what the Enforcers couldn't. I guess you could call it a fit of jealousy." He paused and looked deeply into Callista's eyes while tightening his grip on her paw. He then said, "Felina called you Callie's grandmother. How is that even possible? If that were true, you would be at least as old as I am, but you look as young and gorgeous as when we first met."

Callista blushed when Ulysses said that she was gorgeous. She turned away slightly to hide her face. But Ulysses brought his paw up and made her face him. He said, "You never have to hide anything from me, Callista. We have been friends, real good friends, for years. If you can't tell me as a potential suitor, then please trust me as your friend. What is the big secret? I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't know."

Callista took a moment to collect her thoughts. Could Ulysses handle the truth? Then again, past experience had taught her that putting off such a revelation would only end in heartbreak. Besides, if she couldn't trust Ulysses, who could she trust? Decision made, she bravely met his gaze and said, "Yes, Callie is my granddaughter. She is a descendant of the Queen of Megalith. If you look that up anywhere, you will find a picture of me standing in front of my castle, which stood on this spot over 400 years ago." Callista was now scared. More scared than she had ever been in entire her life. What frightened her more than anything was that she really liked Ulysses, and now that she was telling going to tell him every detail about her and Callie's past was Ulysses going to run away and leave her alone again like several other suitors had in the past? She took a deep breath before saying, "We both are sorceresses. Although she seems to be aging normally, I age at about the rate of a twentieth of a normal cat. If you do the math, I am 500 years old, Ulysses," Callista said softly.

Ulysses didn't pull back from her as she expected. Instead, he pulled her into a tight embrace and said, "I don't care. As long as you are willing to give me another shot at what we had so long ago, I will be very happy, Callista. I guess I never really got over you. Even when you married Steven and had Serena, and I married Adara, deep in my heart, I still loved you. I never should have let you go, and now that I have you back in my life again, I am not planning on letting you go. Though, I want to take this slow. After my very public and bitter divorce, I guess you could say I am a bit gun shy."

"We can take this as slow as you need to, Ulysses. I'll be here, waiting for you to be ready." She heard several sirens scream past the building. She then said, "You had better go. Someone has to take charge of that mess, but if you don't mind, please pack an overnight bag and stay with me tonight, even if it's just on the couch. Since I almost lost Callie today, I don't want to be alone."

Ulysses pulled back. He wasn't sure about taking such a big step already, but he didn't want to see Callista suffer anymore. He replied, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't wait up; I have no idea how long this is going to take." He kissed her forehead and got up from the couch. He grabbed his coat and took one last look at Callista before heading out the door.

Callista watched him leave, then walked to the window facing the street just in time to see him open the door of his car and look up at her in a silent farewell before getting into his car. She followed him with her eyes as he pulled away from the curb and sped off toward the horizon.

End of Chapter.

Author's Note: Welcome Aboard ShiraHime Shou95! Enjoy your flight.