A couple of months passed and Rumpleteazer’s pregnancy was starting to show. At first Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were nervous as to what their humans would think, but they accepted the news with open arms, they were picking out names already.

Jerrie was spending more and more time at the Hotel, which he enjoyed more now that he could take Teazer with him. The tribe had grown dramatically, now numbering thirty five Jellicle’s of various colours, sizes, skills and histories. Some joked that Macavity’s ranks would be looking thin by now but those who had been forced into the service knew the Hidden Paw had way to pad the ranks out. Every few days a Jellicle disappeared, only to be replaced by another, many of them using the Hotel as a pit stop before getting on with life. Despite his objections Mungojerrie had become the unofficial leader of the Hotel tribe, many of the escapees saw him as a hero. This was Mungojerrie, the first escapee to find a new happy life, and a mate! They could only dream of such a thing.

Every time they went to the Hotel Mungojerrie was amazed by Rumpleteazer. She knew the horrors many of these Jellicle’s had been through or committed (although, Jerrie always noted, not first hand, thank the everlasting cat), and yet she spoke to each of them as if she had known them her entire life, her life not theirs. Jerrie knew Teazer was never shy, never, but he was amazed at how open she was with them. Even the most brooding, scariest looking tom was no match for her perkiness. Jerrie suspected that she would confront the everlasting cat if given the chance.

Jerrie and Teazer were relaxing on the padded bench top; Jerrie was sitting up with Teazer’s head in his lap as they both were happily lost in thought. Later on Rumpleteazer knew she would have to go to the Junkyard for a check up. Jellylorum and Jennyanydots were keeping extra close eyes on the tiger queen’s pregnancy, especially now that they had no idea where she spent most of her days. She of course enjoyed hanging around with her friends at the junkyard as well, but would much rather be with her mate. It had been a few days since she’d been back and she knew Jelly and Jenny would be getting worried. But for now there was nothing to worry about and nothing to do but enjoy the closeness of Mungojerrie.

Jerrie was in a similar state of mind with one exception. He had noticed Mana and Darkness were looking out for something. Darkness’ training and Mana’s psychic abilities made them the perfect guards, and more often than not you would see them sitting, quite relaxed, on the windowsill. Darkness would always keep his eyes on the outside while he and Mana shared unspoken conversations. But today there were both staring intently out the window in one direction. Yes something was defiantly coming.

No sooner had the thought entered his mind Mungojerrie was summoned to the window by Mana. Her voice eased into his mind and requested his presence at the entrance. Jerrie could see Darkness jumping down off the sill and heading outside. He also saw Didi and Eclipse, whom Didi had started to train, heading over.

“Scuse me luv. Oi’m needed over there fer a minute.” He said to Rumpleteazer, who sat up to get a better view of what was happening. One paw automatically went to her stomach and stroked the kitten that was growing in there. She gave Jerrie a smile and he set off to see what was going on.

Jerrie got to the entrance just as Darkness was coming back through. Limping at his side, being held up by the dark tom, was a young tom. Mungojerrie gasped as he realised who it was.

“Pounce! Wha’ ‘re yer doin’ ‘ere?” He was instantly at the injured toms other side.

“Jerrie…what…huh?” Pouncival wheezed each word out.

“Now now, we’ll have none of that until I’ve had a look at you. Darkness, Mungojerrie, bring him over to my clinic. Eclipse, go and set up some pillows for him.” The smaller grey queen ran ahead at the older brown queens’ orders. Didi may be quiet socially, but when a Jellicle was injured she became something like her former self. Before the loss of her kittens Didi had been very sociable and friendly with most Jellicle’s but now…well, she barely saw the point. Now she was alone the only thing that kept her going was making sure others lived. Darkness and Mungojerrie walked slowly with Pouncival between them towards the curtained off area behind the old lobby desk. Rumpleteazer had joined the small group as soon as she heard Jerrie exclaim who it was.

They got Pouncival to the clinic and lying down on some comfy pillows before he collapsed. Rumpleteazer rested Pounce’s head in her lap to try and comfort him. She was shocked at the sight of the normally hyper active tom. He was covered in dry blood and she could see some of the wounds that were to blame. His right eye and lips were swollen and his eyes and mouth were now tightly closed, this was a discomforting thought. Pounce was always making some kind of noise. With a smile Rumpleteazer remembered the countless times Jenny or Jelly had tried to get Pounce to go to sleep, only to find themselves fighting a losing battle, he would always find something else to distract him or something else to talk about. His left ankle was also swollen, which accounted for his limp. His tail was the only thing that remained the same as before, it was dirty but still twitching from side to side. Everyone got worried when Pounce’s tail sat still.

Didi instantly started the healing process. Her powers reminded the body what it should be like and set about bringing it was to full health. Without her mate, who could locate exact problems and help her focus her powers on them, it was a slow and sometimes painful process. She always had her patients lie down as they usually became quite dizzy. Pounce kept his eyes closed but winced, shuddered and jumped as various things happened inside of him. The worst was when the power reached his ankle. Didi motioned for Rumpleteazer to hold Pounce’s shoulders as she gently put her paws around the swollen ankle as she sensed her powers moving in that direction. There was a dull click as the ankle realigned itself and Rumpleteazer almost got thrown back as Pounce jolted up. He was breathing heavily and staring at nothing as his mind registered what was going on. He looked around as if he only now realised where he was. He saw Mungojerrie standing next to a brown queen, both staring at him. At his ankle another brown queen was slightly hunched over with her eyes shut and arms extended, as if she was focusing on something. Then there was a young grey queen and Rump…wait, young grey queen? His eyes darted back to Eclipse and she blushed at his gaze. Rumpleteazer stifled a giggle and stroked his mane before gently guiding him back into a lying down position. She had seen full grown toms fall straight over because of Didi’s powers so she had no idea what effect they would have a small thing like Pounce.

Didi stood up and moved over to Pouncival’s side and made herself comfy on her favourite cushion, a big black and white one, which Eclipse had brought over.

“He can talk now but don’t overdo it. He’ll need a lot of rest. Too many big movements may distract my work, which will make the process even longer.” She nodded at Mungojerrie and Mana before crossing her legs and resting her paws on her knees. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The urgent major work had been patched, now it was time to fix everything and make sure the problems didn’t return.

The Jellicle’s waited until they were sure Didi was working before turning to Pouncival.

“So come on then Pounce, wha’ ‘appened to yer?” Jerrie prompted. Pounce looked nervously at Mana and Eclipse. “Don’ worry abou’ them, they’re friends. This is Mana nd tha’s Eclipse. Lips is ‘ere ter ‘elp Didi, ‘oo’s tha one fixin’ yer up, nd Mana’s ‘ere ter make sure yer ain’t a threat. Even tho me and Teazer could tell ‘er yer aren’t.” Both queens smiled at Pounce, Eclipse smiled a bit more coyly than normal though. Pounce took a deep breath.

“Ok then. Well, I was back at the yard…”

---

“Jemi! Jemi! Jeeeeemmmmiiii!!” All the Jellicle’s in the Junkyard smiled as Etcetera bounded around the piles. The younger Jellicle’s were playing hide and seek and Etcetera was it again. She had never fully grasped the whole seek concept of the game.

“Jemi! Where are you?! This is no fair!” She jumped over the tyre and just missed Bombalurina, who was lounging against it.

“Watch it Cetty!”

“Sorry Bomby. Hey, have you seen Jemi?” A mature giggle sounded behind Etcetera.

“Now Etectera, that would be cheating.” Jennyanydots placed a gentle paw on her shoulder.

“Oh, but Jenny…”

“No, now come on, you can find them.” The young queen jumped off on the hunt again.

“You saw her too?” Bomby raised an eyebrow and Jenny couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes, behind the oven, Cetty must have walked past her five times by now. She is hopeless.” Jenny sat herself next to the scarlet bomb shell. Many would be shocked to see them chatting but both loved a good bit of gossip. Jellylorum would be along soon no doubt.

Etectera bounded up another junk pile and saw one of her pray.

“Pounce!! I found you!” She leaped on Pouncival who was hiding behind an abandoned rocking chair.

“Cetty!” At first he chuckled and smiled at his friend, but the he realised she wasn’t letting go.

“Come on get off, you don’t need to jump me like that.” He tried to pry her paws apart, which were locked around his chest. “Ok come on Cetty, let me go and I’ll help you find the others.” Etcetera let go so suddenly that Pouncival didn’t have time to catch his balance. He had been pulling away from the crème queen and now found himself pulling against nothing, gravity did the rest. He fell down the pile with less grace than a pollicle and landed on his back in a box with a food package on his head. Some Jellicle’s came to see what the commotion was about, one of them was Electra.

“Ha! Nice one Pounce. Do you act that way around all the queens or is Cetty just special?” Electra then fell into a fit of laughter. “We should call you Flounce instead of Pounce.”

“Pounce? Are you ok? I’m sorry I didn’t mean….” Etcetera had climbed down and was now inching toward Pounce. Before she could finish he threw the food package off his head and jumped up, startling her.

“I’m fine.” He started to walk away but Etcetera grabbed his arm, she looked at him full of concern. Electra was still laughing and others were joining in. Bombalurina was one of them. Like most of the toms Pouncival had a crush on the scarlet queen, her laughing was a real blow to his ego. His friends Tumblebrutus and Admetus were laughing as well, holding each other up to stop from falling over.

“Pounce I really didn’t mean to hurt you.” Pouncival yanked his arm away before once again stating he was fine. If Pouncival could have gone red he would have, he had never been so embarrassed in his whole life. He started walking again, this time out of the yard. Jelly and Jenny tried to stop him but it didn’t work. Pounce just needed to clear his head.

Pouncival made it to the park and sat himself to the side out of the way. Small tears of embarrassment had started forming in his eyes.

“I didn’t want to play that silly game anyway.” Of course no-one heard Pouncival but he spoke anyway. “Stupid Electra laughing at me like that. Why does she always pick on me?” He decided to lay on his front with his head leaning on his arms. “She never picks on the others like that.” The memory of Etcetera’s concerned face flashed in his mind and he winced at the thought. Etcetera was always so care free, Pounce had often thought he would hurt anyone who took that joy away from her and now he was part of the problem.

Some human pre-teens spotted Pouncival lying down and decided to go over and play. Pounce was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice them until too late.

“Hey look at this cat, what kind of mess is it?” The biggest one picked Pouncival up with both hands and Pounce instantly started struggling to get away, but the human had a good grip.

“Look at that eye patch, what are you a pirate?” Another one joined in the tormenting while Pounce continued to struggle. One set of claws made a mark on the second tormenter.

“Son of a…” The pre-teen pulled his hand away and the third and final human joined in by hitting Pouncival on the side of his head. Pounce became stunned and stopped struggling so much. The bleeding human yanked Pounce’s tail causing him to yowl and dig his claws into the human that was holding him. The boy threw Pounce away as a natural reaction and he was unfortunately caught by the third boy. This boy had a tighter grip and Pouncival knew he was in for some big bruises. He made a fairly weak attempt at clawing the boys face but was thrown again before he could reach. The second boy caught him this time and instantly threw him again. Pounce was heading towards the first boy again but the human missed and Pounce hit the ground with a thud. He groaned and tried to stand up to run away but fell down, his head was spinning.

“Ha! It didn’t even land on its feet!” All three laughed as one of them picked Pouncival up again; Pounce’s vision was starting to spin so he wasn’t sure who it was. He winced as his bruises were pressed.

“Let’s go see if it can land on its feet somewhere else.” They boys looked at each other knowingly as Pounce was stuffed into a backpack. He curled up and started to cry again. The bag was fairly big and Pounce was grateful that he was only sharing it with some human clothing. The ride was bumpy but Pounce still managed to fall asleep…or did he pass out, he wasn’t too sure.

The back pack was thrown open and Pouncival blinked at the sudden light. He was pulled out if the bag, adding new bruises to his torso. A few blinks cleared his vision and he saw that they were standing against a wall. The boys were clearly standing on some bins or something similar and dangling the tom over the wall. Pouncival began to panic at the drop, but his panic rose even more as he felt the faint smell of pollicles drifting over him. The panic made him struggle which annoyed the humans.

“Stupid cat, let’s get rid of him, he’s boring now.”

“Ok, on the count of three drop him, if he doesn’t land on his feet this time then you owe me a tango.” One of the boys huffed. “I’m telling you it’s all bogus, how can a cat always land on his feet.”

“It’s true! I’ve seen it!”

“He didn’t land on his feet earlier did he? No, therefore it’s a load of bull.”

“That was clearly a fluke. My brother told me it was true, you calling my brother a liar?”

“No just you.” A small scuffle was about to break out before the human holding Pouncival spoke up.

“Oi, this cat is squirming. If it scratches me again I’ll turn it into dog food. So can we get on with this, someone count.” The sceptic began the countdown.

“Three, two…one!” Pouncival was dropped unceremoniously down the wall. During normal play Pounce would probably have thought nothing of this drop but with all the bruises and the knocks to his head he wasn’t feeling himself. He somehow managed to land on his feet, but he heard a small crack in his left ankle. This caused him to stumble over, landing almost face first in the dust. He heard the horrible laughter above him again.

“See I was right, that’ll be one Tango mate.”

“No way, he landed on his feet!”

“Er let me check; yep that’s one cat on his ass in the dirt.”

“He fell afterwards…”

“Let’s sort this out later, Simpsons is on in twenty minutes and I want to see it, come on.” The boys jumped down and ran off leaving Pouncival on the wrong side of the wall, injured and lost.

---

“…after that I just started walking, hoping the pollicles wouldn’t smell me, but they did. Luckily they weren’t out to kill, they just wanted some fun.” Pouncival almost spat that last phrase.

“They nipped me a few times and got me down a few more but got bored. Then I started wondering looking for anything familiar. I don’t know how long I was wondering for, at least a day. Then I smelt some Jellicle’s and followed the scent. By then I didn’t even care if it turned out to be some of Macavity’s bully boys, at least then I wouldn’t just die in an ally all alone.”

“Pouce, yer no’ gonna die. Didi’ll fix yer up.” Rumpleteazer stated matter-of-factually, still with Pounce’s head in her lap.

“I know. So that’s my story, now what in the dog house is going on here? Is this where you’ve been hiding?” He looked questionably up at Rumpleteazer and Mungojerrie.

“No’ really hidin’ Pounce, jus’ livin’. This is a new troibe, they’re made up of ex Macca agen’s who jus’ wan’ freedom.” Jerrie explained the best he could without making them all sound like the ‘bully boys’ Pouncival had been referring to.

“An’ they’ve gone an’ made my Jerrie they’re leader.” Teazer added with a giggle.

“No way, Jerrie?” Pounce looked at the tiger tom semi critically. “Nope I just can’t imagine that…no offence.”

“None taken Pounce, oi can’ believe it myself really.” Jerrie couldn’t help but laugh. Mana also let out a small laugh. Suddenly Didi looked up.

“The healing is about to get quite intense, I’d prefer it if you left. Pouncival is likely to become unconscious quite soon.” She saw a look of worry on the toms face. “Don’t worry boy, it’s only to let the healing carry on. It’ll just feel like a relaxing sleep.” The worry subsided a little bit but not completely. He turned to the tiger twins.

“You’ll be here when I wake up won’t you?”

“Of course we will be luv, we’ll leave ter let Didi do ‘er stuff bu’ we’ll be wite outside, won’ we Jerrie?”

“Yeah we will.” They both gave Pouncival a reassuring smile and stroke before leaving with Mana. They exited the curtains and made themselves comfy right outside, just as they’d promised. Mana turned to them.

“I’m sorry, if I’d have known you knew him I would have let you earlier, my senses were vague, I thought he was just another unknown.”

“Don’ blame yerself Mana, yer couldn’ ‘ave known.” Jerrie reassured her. She nodded at the couple before heading back to the sill and her mate.

Meanwhile in the clinic Pouncival was still conscious and enjoying a gentle wash from Eclipse. The water was cold but it felt good to feel clean again. Didi was once again concentrating and dead to the world so they were for all intents and purposes alone. Somehow this made them even shyer with each other.

“So…how did you end up here?” Pounce began.

“It’s a long story, you might not be awake long enough to hear it. Let’s just say my parents worked for Macavity but now they’re dead so me and my brother fled.” Eclipse was working on the dried blood on Pouncival’s right arm. “I really like it here though. I just wish there were more Jellicle’s around of my age. My brother’s ok but sometime you just need someone else you know?”

“Kind of, in my tribe there’s a group of us at similar ages, but I know what you mean about a change.” He winced slightly as the flannel Eclipse was using went over a cut.

“Sorry…That Etcetera sounds nice…I wish I’d grown up with Jellicle’s like that.”

“She is, she’s so ditzy sometimes but there’s more to her than meets the eye. You’d like Jemima as well, everyone like Jemima. Electra’s ok when she’s not taking the mick out of you…” Pounce’s eyes rolled slightly. “Feeling very tired…”

“That’ll be what Didi was talking about, just let yourself sleep.” Without much prompting Pouncival closed his eyes and let the wonderful release of sleep take him over. Eclipse smiled at his sleeping form and continued the wash.

Hours passed as Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer waited. The normal Hotel activity continued around them. A few toms scuffed as something to do rather than as a fight. Many of them had been raised fighting and it was taking a while to get used to the fact that they didn’t have to.

Breeze and Candi flirted with each other under a window. They were just talking but Candi’s pose and Breeze’s approving glances suggested something more was going on.

Ellipsis was looking bored; he always did while Eclipse was working. Eclipse and Ellipsis were the youngest members of the tribe and really only had each other. After a while one of the younger adults took pity on the brown tom and started playing a game of tag with him.

Didi came out through the curtain to find Rumpleteazer asleep against Mungojerrie’s shoulder.

“Mungojerrie? I’ve done what I can. I think he’ll be fine; he just needs plenty of rest. I wouldn’t recommend moving him for a while so he’ll have to stay here.” She didn’t wait for a reply before going back inside for some rest. Mungojerrie gently woke Rumpleteazer up and they walked in to find Pouncival just starting to wake up. Eclipse was sitting near him and keeping an eye on him.

“’Ey Pounce. Didi says yer’ll ‘ave to ‘ang around fer a while til yer get better.” Rumpleteazer sat down next to Pouncival again. “Bu’ don’ worry. Oi’m sure Eclipse ‘ere will see yer made comfy.” She winked at the grey queen before reaching back to slap Mungojerrie’s leg to stop him laughing.

“Rumpleteazer!” Both Eclipse and Pouncival exclaimed together, which caused Eclipse to blush again. She had to admit, she did find this tom very attractive, and she was getting close to an acceptable dating age…but…’well but what? There’s nothing holding me back is there?’ Her mind tried to come up with a reason not to even think of Pouncival in a romantic way. It threw a few excuses at her. You don’t know him. He’s from another tribe. What about Ellipsis? But the logical part of her mind argued against her. You’ve got plenty of time to get to know him. So what if he’s from another tribe. Ellipsis will understand, and he’ll find someone for himself one day. Her thoughts were interrupted.

“Yer can stay as long as yer loike Pounce. We’ll make sure the junkyard know yer ok.” Mungojerrie gave a reassuring grin.

The next day Rumpleteazer went to the Junkyard for a check up. Jellylorum reported that all was fine with the unborn kitten but was still annoyed that Teazer was spending so much time away.

“I know you’re not at your human home dear, Jenny and I popped round yesterday and neither you or Mungojerrie were there. Please tell me where you both are.”

“Oi’m sorry Jelly, oi can’ tell yer yet. You’ll know eventually bu oi promised Jerrie oi wouldn’ tell.” Jelly continued to protest but Teazer would not be moved.

After the check up Teazer went to see Tantomile and Coricopat

“Good morning Rumpleteazer. How is the Hotel going.” Tantomile greeted the Tiger queen with a smile while Coricopat motioned for her to sit down.

“Oi ‘ad a feelin’ you already knew ‘bout it.” She sat down slowly. “What ain’t yer told anyone else ‘bout it?”

“Because we know it isn’t the right time. When the time is right the Hotel will be revealed but it won’t be by me and Coricopat. Trust us on that.”

“Oi do trust yer. Can oi ask yer ter do me a favour?”

“Of course Teazer.”

“Pounce is at the ‘otel and ‘urt. We’re lookin’ after ‘im, ‘e’ll be ok bu’ ‘e won’ be back ‘ere fer a while. Can yer let everyone know ‘e’s ok withou’ givin’ us away?” Rumpleteazer looked awkward, she wasn’t sure what the twins policy on lying was.

“Of course we can.” They gave no explanation and left in their characteristically odd way. Rumpleteazer watched them leave, shrugged, and headed back to her human home for a nice long nap.