Disclaimer: The SWAT Kats are owned by Hanna Barbera and the Tremblay Brothers. I own the OCs.
I promised things would start to turn for the better, this chapter is that turn. Things are going to get a lot less gloomy from here on out, at least for a while.
Thank you MisaRae for being my inspiration for this! I don't know what I would do without you!
Candice and Tim were sleeping peacefully, wrapped in each other's arms. The sun was shining through her window, bathing the entire room with its warm glow. Suddenly, the phone on the night stand started to ring. Candice turned over and made an attempt to grab the receiver, but failed at the first few attempts. She lifted her head in order to see where the phone actually was on her nightstand, and lifted the receiver with her left paw. She answered, "This had better be important to wake me up at this hour."
The voice on the other end of the phone replied, "Is that any way to talk to your grandmother?"
Candice sat up as soon as she heard who was on the other end of the phone and replied, "Grandma! I'm sorry; I don't normally answer the phone like that. The past few days have been absolutely crazy, and I was actually catching up on some much needed sleep. How are you? Where are you?"
"I'm fine, sweetie. Funny thing, I'm at your parents for a few days, and I would love to see you. They are having a party in the backyard this afternoon. Why don't you come out?" her grandmother asked.
Candice turned her head and looked down at Tim, who was still sleeping soundly. That was something she was going to have to rectify soon if they were going to make the drive to her parents' house. She turned her head back and replied, "Sure, Grandma. I will leave here in a couple of hours. I need to take care of a stray that is staying with me first."
"A stray? You have someone living with you, Candice? Please tell me he's handsome, at least?" her grandmother asked.
"I refuse to answer that, Grandma. Who I let stay at my place is none of your concern, but yes, he is quite handsome," Candice replied. She then reached over with her left paw and gave Tim a gentle shake.
"Bring this stray with you. I want to meet him and make sure that he is good enough for you," her grandmother said.
Candice was not ready for Tim to meet her family yet. Yes, they had talked about it last night, but to bring him to a family function would be throwing him to the lions, literally! She replied, "I'll bring him on one condition."
"And what would that be?" her grandmother asked.
"You keep your teeth and claws to yourself at all times, Grandma. I like this tom, a lot, and I want him to stick around. Ok?" Candice asked. She purposely left out the part where they had already confessed their love for each other, and that he was currently sleeping in her bed.
"I promise to keep myself in check, Candice. However, if I sense something is not right with him, he will find out what it is like to be hunted by a lioness," her grandmother said.
"I will see you in a few hours, Grandma. I love you," Candice said.
"I love you, too, my Candy Cub," her grandmother said, and then hung up.
Candice returned the receiver to the cradle and had to wake Tim up so they could shower, dress, and hit the road for the three hour drive to her parents'. She turned over so she was facing his back, moved her face real close to his right ear, and whispered, "Wake up, dear. We're going on a date to my parents' place, so I can introduce them to my tom-friend, who I happen to love very much."
Tim let out a light snore and pulled the sheet that was covering him tighter around his body before snuggling deeper into the bed.
Candice loved a challenge and trying to wake Tim up gently was one she was more than willing to accept. She started by nibbling on his right ear, gently draping her right arm over him, and resting her right paw on his chest.
Tim was enjoying the best sleep he'd had in years, and he couldn't help but feel that sleeping next to Candice was the reason for it.
As Candice caressed his body, his mind started to wander to a place that he was not quite ready to go in reality. He imagined Candice underneath him in their marital bed as he brought her to the heights of pleasure. Sweat poured off both of them as they made love for the umpteenth time that night.
Candice watched his face as she upped the ante. Her paw traveled lower down his body, and slipped under the waistband of his boxers. Her paw found its target as she moved her mouth to his neck. Candice started nibbling on his neck and rubbed her breasts against his back.
The added sensation transferred itself to Tim's dream, the whole experience becoming even more vivid. Tim almost swore he could feel the way Candice wrapped around him, her body quivering as he brought them both closer and closer to the edge. He put all his focus into his bride's pleasure, moving his hips just so. Then Candice came apart, screaming his name as she shattered. Her voice and the way she clung to him dragged him over with her, the moment so intense; it catapulted him out of the dream and into the real world.
Candice removed her paw and backed away from him ever so slightly. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
Tim rolled over so he could face her. He kissed her lips, and then said, "I haven't slept that well in a long time."
She giggled before she said, "You must have. I had one heck of a time waking you up. I had to resort to using some techniques I picked up on how to give a tom a very good morning. I hope you don't mind?"
Tim lifted the covers and looked down. He was definitely going to need a shower. He looked back at the she-cat that he had fallen head-over-heels in love with and said, "I don't mind at all." He hooked his arm around her, pulling Candice to him. Tim then said, "I want to return the favor." He claimed her lips in a fiery kiss as soon as he finished speaking.
They kissed for a minute or two, enjoying the intimacy before Candice pulled back, placed a finger against his lips, and said, "You were the one who wanted to take it slow. So that is what we are going to do." She slipped out of bed and started walking towards the bathroom, still wearing those tiny, black lace panties from the night before. But her bra was long gone.
Tim lifted his head and rested it on his palm before saying, "If we are going to take it slow, why was your paw where it should not have been, and why were you nibbling my neck?"
Candice stopped, turned her head to look over her left shoulder, and replied, "You said that 'You wanted to take it slow.' I agreed to you taking it slow, not me, so I get to do what I want." She continued her journey to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
Tim sank back onto the bed and turned to look at the ceiling. He asked, "Dad, I hope you can hear me. I love her, but she is a real wild cat. What did I get myself into?"
Callie woke up when the sun's rays shone through the window into her apartment. Both she and Chance were still on the kitchen floor, not a hint of clothing in sight. She tilted her head to look at the clock on the wall, at the clock on the wall, and saw that it had just turned seven o'clock. Callie got up off of the floor, dusted herself off, and started heading towards her bedroom.
She stopped at the full-length mirror in the hall that she normally used to take one last look at herself before she left for the office. This time, she put her paws on her stomach and tried to envision what she was going to look like in a few short months. The reflection in the mirror changed to show her as a very pregnant she-cat. Her belly had expanded to accommodate the three kittens she knew to be in there, but it looked more to her like she had swallowed a watermelon whole. Her breasts were almost twice their normal size. Callie stared at her reflection for some time. She loved the idea of becoming a mother, especially to Chance's kittens. She continued her way to the bedroom in order to clean up for her date with Sarah.
Tina and Katerina were awakened from a sound sleep by the sounds of a smoke alarm screeching. They both quickly got out of bed, and each grabbed a robe. They both ran out into the main room of the apartment just in time to see another billow of smoke coming out of the kitchen.
Tina immediately whirled around and ran towards the master bedroom to wake Jake and Felina, as she was absolutely convinced that the apartment was on fire.
Katerina walked briskly towards the source of the smoke, and found Felina in the kitchen, fanning the smoke away from her with her left paw while a thick, gray cloud billowed up from a pan that she was still holding in her right paw. Katerina asked, "What happened in here?"
Felina coughed, and then said, "I figured I would make breakfast for all of us. I started by getting the pan nice and hot, greased it with some butter, and then I added about six eggs. While the eggs cooked, I started brewing coffee. When I turned back to the eggs, they had all turned black, and then the pan caught on fire. I guess the pan was too hot."
Katerina calmly walked over to the stove and saw that the burner was still on its highest setting. She turned the stove off, and turned the exhaust fan to high. Katerina took the pan from Felina and asked, "You are a grown she-cat. Surely you have made a meal before? No one leaves the stove on that high when frying anything."
Felina walked over to the windows in the living room and opened them to get some fresh air into the apartment. She turned back to Katerina and replied with a question of her own, "Do frozen dinners count?"
"No, they don't, dear friend. Didn't anyone in your family teach you the way around a kitchen?" Katerina asked.
"My mother was not exactly the best cook out there. She could barely boil water. Dad was always focused on my brothers, and he never helped out with any of the household duties."
Katerina walked over to the kitchen sink and put the pan in it. She turned to Felina and said, "Well, that is about to change. Ever since I was a kitten, I love to be in the kitchen. I am going to teach you how to prepare a decent meal without going into the freezer." She walked over to Felina and placed her right paw on Felina's left shoulder. She then said, "Jake will really appreciate a good home-cooked meal when he gets home from the garage."
Felina thought about it for a brief minute and her mind protested, 'There's no way you can cook! Do you want to poison your husband, or worse, your kitten?' However, her heart said, 'You need to do this. Your kitten is going to need nutritious meals, especially when it is very young. What are you going to do? Rely on fast food and frozen, processed crap to feed your kitten? Don't you want him or her to be healthy and strong, just like its mother?' Felina listened to her heart and replied, "Alright, I will do it! Teach me everything you know."
Katerina hugged Felina and said, "You will be a great student, with the proper motivation, of course."
Felina pulled out of Katerina's embrace, put her left leg slightly ahead of her right, and cocked her hip. She then asked, "What are you up to?"
"Me? I'm up to nothing, at least right now. You have nothing to worry about, my friend. I will teach you the basics, and eventually," she leaned in to whisper into Felina's ear, "a few things that will drive Jake wild with passion."
Felina was really starting to like the idea of Katerina teaching her how to cook. Especially if Katerina knew of ways to use skills in the kitchen to spice things up in the bedroom. She smirked and asked, "When can we start?"
"Possibly tonight. Today, Callie has invited Tina and me to spend the day with a little girl that has wormed her way into Callie's heart," Katerina replied.
"Oh, and who is this little girl?" Felina asked.
"I do not know. Callie only mentioned her last night. Apparently, we are going to a house and will meet some tom named Persival," Katerina replied.
Tina ran into the kitchen, her grip on his paw forcing Jake to keep up or he would end up flat on his face. They stopped at the kitchen and noticed that the smoke was dissipating, rather quickly. Jake asked, "What happened in here?"
Felina slinked her way over to Jake and wrapped her arms around him before she replied, "I was trying to be domestic and make you all a decent breakfast before you had to head back over to the hospital and relieve Mark, but I failed. I was thinking I'm just not cut out to be in the kitchen, but I've changed my mind. Katerina has agreed to teach me how to cook."
Jake turned his head to Katerina and asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea? I love Felina, I really do, but if she can do that much damage with just a pan, think of what might happen if she gets her hands on a knife!"
"She will be fine, Jake, just wait and see. When I am done, your soon-to-be wife will be as good as some of the chefs in the finest restaurants in the city," Katerina replied.
"Fat chance of that," Felina replied. "No offense, Katerina, but I think you're giving me way too much credit. This is the second pan that I have turned into charcoal this month alone this month alone, and I'm not about to tell you how many microwaves I've gone through this year," Felina said.
Jake's stomach growled with hunger, but he also knew that he had to relieve Mark at the hospital within the next couple of hours. He said, "How about I treat you beautiful ladies to breakfast this morning while the apartment airs out?"
Felina walked over to Jake and put him in a headlock before she asked, "Are you flirting with our friends?"
Jake tried to respond, but Felina's grasp around his neck was a little too tight. He tapped her arm with his left paw, hoping that she would get the idea to let go of his neck.
Felina felt Jake tap her arm, and looked down at her fiancé. She saw that he could not respond, vocally anyway. She smiled at him and loosened her choke hold, but did not let him go entirely.
Jake took in a breath before he replied, "You know, you could kill a cat by doing that, and no, I was not flirting with them. I was making a general comment about how beautiful you all are, and how I am going to be the envy of every tom in the diner when I walk in with three beautiful she-cats."
Tina made her way over to Katerina, wrapped her arms around her, and said, "Yes, we are beautiful, and you are going to be the envy of every tom in there, until I do this." She then kissed Katerina on the lips and slipped her tongue in her mouth. After a minute, she pulled back and said as she rested her head against Katerina's, "Then I will be the envy of every tom in the place."
Katerina slipped her arms around Tina's neck and said, "If you keep kissing me like that, like that, we are not only going to miss breakfast, we will not be ready when Callie comes by to pick us up."
Tina let go of Katerina's waist, but grabbed her right paw and started leading her towards their bedroom before she said, "If this Sarah is anything at all like Callie described, she is going to love us as much as she loves Callie. Even though I did make a fuss about Callie revealing her secrets to Sarah, I have a very good feeling that Sarah is going to be a fun little girl to be around."
Katerina smiled when she heard Tina's proclamation. She said, "I am so glad you feel that way, Tina If Callie already has such an attachment to Sarah then she must be something special. I personally can't wait to meet her." Katerina then dragged Tina into the bedroom to change.
Lisa woke up and felt better. Her head had stopped pounding, and she felt energized. She almost wanted to get up out of the hospital bed and dance. But she then felt a weight on her left paw. Once she was able to open her eyes and focus, she turned, she turned her head to her left and saw Mark with both of his arms on the bed, his head turned to the left, resting comfortably on his right forearm while both of his paws held Lisa's. He was still asleep. She remembered talking to him and crying into his shoulder for hours. She lifted her right paw and gave Mark a gentle shake to try and wake him.
Mark barely slept that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw someone coming into the room to kill Lisa. Eventually, he stopped trying to go to sleep and just sat in the chair, watching Lisa sleep, her expression almost childlike as she got some much-needed rest. However, sleep had finally claimed him sometime during the night and he subconsciously took Lisa's paw in his in order to make sure that she didn't slip away from him again. He let out several light, contented purrs as he slept.
Lisa, sensing she failed to wake her fiancé, decided to listen to his gentle purrs as he slept.
A nurse came into the room to check on Lisa's progress, and stopped short as she noticed Mark's awkward yet heartfelt position.
Lisa held up her index finger to her mouth, basically asking the nurse to be quiet. She then lowered her paw and stroked his hair.
The nurse chuckled and continued to make her way over to Lisa's side of the bed. She took Lisa's wrist in her paw to check her pulse, and noted her findings in Lisa's chart. The nurse placed the ear pieces of her stethoscope in her ears before listening to Lisa's chest. She softly said, "Please take a deep breath."
Lisa inhaled as much air as she could, and then slowly let it out.
The nurse removed the stethoscope from her ears and jotted down a note on Lisa's chart.
That was when Mark let out a very loud purr before resuming his normal breathing pattern.
The nurse leaned over to Lisa and softly said, "He is so cute. He must love you an awful lot to sleep like that, and the only time my husband lets out a purr like that is when we are cuddling in bed before we fall asleep for the night."
Lisa turned her head to look at Mark's sleeping form before she turned back to the nurse and replied, "He is my big, strong, teddy bear. I don't know what my life would be like without him in it, and I am not sure that I want to know, either. I love him just as much as he loves me, Miss. I can't wait to walk down the aisle and hear him say 'I Do' with that deep, baritone voice of his."
"I am sure that you are going to make a gorgeous bride. I have great news for you, considering all that you have gone through in the past two days. You are healing up faster than anyone thought. If it were up to me, you would be sprung from this place and be able to go home. However, it is not my decision to make, but I can voice my opinion to Dr. Feldman. He trusts my judgment, so who knows? You might be going home either today or tomorrow." The nurse straightened, gathered up her things, and said, "I will be by again in a few hours." She then left and closed the door behind her.
Mark let out a yawn as he started to wake up.
Lisa bent over, gave him a kiss in between his ears, and then ruffled his hair with her paw.
Mark's eyes opened and he felt her paw in his. He lifted his head and said, "Good morning, my angel. How did you sleep?"
Lisa blushed beneath the fur on her face and replied, "I have never slept better, Mark. I guess having you sleeping next to me and holding me tight has a very positive effect."
"I'll sleep with you every night for the rest of our lives, if that is what you want me to do, Lisa." He then sat up, but he didn't let go of her paw. He then said, "Lisa, I know we have talked about this briefly, but in light of what happened yesterday, I think that either I should move in with you, or you should move in with me. Until you are back on active duty in the Enforcers, I don't trust you living alone anymore. If something happened to you, and I was not there? I would not be able to live with myself."
Lisa took her paw from his and looked down into her lap. She then said, "As much as I want to move in with you and have you there to protect me, my parents will have a fit if I moved in with you out of wedlock, and you know it."
"What am I supposed to do, Lisa? I will not be able to get any rest unless I know you are safe. It's not that I don't trust you; it's those Society cats I don't trust. They even went as far as to try to kill you in a hospital that has security personnel on staff 24-7. You don't have that at your apartment, and with that injured shoulder of yours, I doubt, that you can handle your firearm if you needed to use it," Mark said.
Callista woke up from a very terrible dream, more like a nightmare. She dreamt that someone had tried to take Lisa's life, and would have succeeded if not for the swift work of a doctor. The dream was so real to her that she had to check on Lisa right then and there. Callista grabbed a robe and secured it around her body before she whisked herself to Lisa's side.
Lisa was about to say something to Mark, when Callista appeared from out of nowhere.
Callista went to Lisa's side and placed her left paw on Lisa's arm. She said, "I am so glad that you are alive. I had a dream that felt so real, I was compelled to find out if you were alright."
Lisa asked, "What was your dream about, Callista?"
Callista told Lisa and Mark about her dream in vivid detail, and when she stopped, Mark said, "That is about right. If it wasn't for Dr. Feldman, Lisa might not be here with us right now. As a matter of fact, we were just arguing about her needing protection from these Society cats at all times. I want her to move in with me so I can be with her every hour of the day, but she won't, but she won't agree to it."
Callista thought about their situation for a minute and said, "You both can get what you want. Lisa, can move into my old house until you two are married. That way she will be protected, and she does not have to hurt her parents."
"No offence, Callista, but how does Lisa moving into your old house get her the protection that she needs?" Mark asked.
Callista got up and said, "You have never met Persival before. He has been my protector since he was a cub. Now that he has the love of his life by his side, he is going to be an even better protector for anyone who lives in that house."
"Persival? What kind of name is that? I can't help but think of him as this scrawny, uptight tom. How could a cat like that protect anyone?" Mark asked.
Callista laughed at Mark's comment. She then said, "Persival is not scrawny. He weighs about 300 pounds, and all of that is solid muscle. There is not an ounce of fat on that big, winged body of his. Would you like to see for yourselves? Watch my paws."
Callista raised her arms and kept her hands level as they circled about each other faster and faster until they were just a blur. From that whirling energy, a ball of light began to take shape before shooting out to project an image like a film on a screen. Once the screen had formed, an image of a large, old house with a wraparound porch appeared. Sleeping on the porch was a very large, winged puma. The puma's right wing was draped over a white jaguar.
Mark gripped Lisa's paw tighter as he took in the image before him. He lifted his head to meet Callista's gaze and asked, "Is that puma Persival?"
"Yes, that is Persival, and the jaguar sleeping next to him is named Isis. They will both protect Lisa with their lives, if that is what is required. Would you both like to meet them?" Callista replied.
"If he is going to watch over Lisa, then I definitely want to meet him. I do not trust anyone to watch over her that I don't know," Mark replied.
"Very well, let me change into something more appropriate and we can go," Callista said as the screen vanished from sight. Her body glowed white, and her robe changed into a pair of form-fitting blue jeans and a pink sweater.
Mark sat there with his mouth hanging open because of what he just witnessed. He turned his head to Lisa and asked, "Did you see that? How can she do that?"
Lisa already knew that Callista and Callie were sorceresses. However, Mark had no idea what they were capable of. She replied as she stroked his left cheek with her left paw, "Callista is a very powerful, 500-year-old sorceress. What you just saw was a very small sample of what she can do."
Mark lifted his head to look at Callista, and then back to Lisa. He replied, "There is no way a she-cat that hot can be 500 years old. As for her being a sorceress, she has already proved it with that little display."
Callista laughed at Mark's comments. She said through her laughter, "Mark, you have no idea how glad I am that you think I am hot. But what Lisa said is true; I am over 500 years old. I age at a much slower rate than normal cats do."
Lisa didn't exactly appreciate her fiancé calling one of her new friends hot, so she gave him a not-so gentle pinch on the arm to show her disapproval.
Mark felt the pinch and scrunched up his face before he said, "Now what was that for?"
"That, my dear, was for calling her hot," Lisa replied.
"Sorry Lisa, but I can't help that she is one very good-looking she-cat. Anyway, you can't leave the hospital until you are discharged, and I am not leaving until Razor relieves me," Mark said. He then turned to Callista and said, "Since it is still early, can you watch over Lisa while I get us some breakfast from the cafeteria?"
Callista walked over and took a seat next to Lisa before taking Lisa's paw in hers and replying, "Sure, Mark. I would love to catch up with my new friend."
Mark donned his mask, slipping his alternate persona back into place, before saying, "Now don't you ladies go and get into any trouble while I'm gone." He gave them a wink, then turned and left the room.
After Callista and Lisa watched Adonis walk out of the room, Callista asked, then Callista asked, "Does he always wear clothes that tight? Even though I am engaged to Ulysses, your fiancé has one of the best asses I have ever seen on a tom. How do you keep yourself in check and not grab those cheeks every chance you get?"
Lisa giggled like a school girl for a second, and then replied, "It's very hard to keep my paws to myself sometimes, especially when he wears that uniform." She leaned in close to Callista's ear before she said softly, "If you thought the back looked delicious, wait until you see the front." She then leaned back, resting her head a little more firmly on her pillow.
Callista stayed in her seat and smiled at Lisa before saying," I can't wait to see for myself." Her tail swished in anticipation of watching Mark walk in and seeing the front of his body in all its glory.
End of Chapter