Disclaimer: I do not own any of CSI's characters or their intellectual properties. You know the drill.

A/N: This is a companion piece to "Eyes of Emmalyn Wolfe", an observation by Stryker, Ryan's and Emmie's cat. For more understanding about the differences between Ryan and Stryker, please see "Eyes of Emmalyn Wolfe" Chapter 4. Also, this is the first time I've ever written a story through a character's POV. Hey, why NOT the cat?

Doesn’t He Understand?

Sweet Stuff is home again! Uh oh! He’s tired again. That means I’ll have to go dig out of the dry food myself.

I’ve been sitting here, staring at him for a while now. Doesn’t he understand that I own this place and not the humans? I shouldn’t have to wait to be fed like that!

Sweet Stuff acts as though HE owns the place! The only reason I let him shoo me away from that clean, shiny black toy of his is because he’s bigger than I am.

Sweet Stuff won’t even let me on the bed. He thinks I’m dirty. Can you believe that? Doesn’t he understand that I’m cleaner than a lot of his fellow humans? I wash more than he does!

Doesn’t he understand?

I was there before he was! Even though I was just a baby, I still remember when Dex, the other man-creature, went away and never came back. Dex wasn't around much, but at least HE knew I owned the place. I trained him to scratch me behind the ears. Dex was a well-trained human.

But then something happened. Dex was gone. Emmie’s eyes leaked all night long. Then she gave all his toys away. Then we had to leave.

Funny thing about these humans. They’re salty, and their eyes leak sometimes. I like to dry their leaky eyes, though. It tastes salty, and it seems to make them feel better when I do that.

I wish Sweet Stuff would understand.

In fact, it wasn’t that long ago when Sweet Stuff went away for a short time. Emmie’s eyes sure leaked a lot. And her eyes leaked when that man-creature she called Rick came over once. Things sure were strange then, and not very healthy for a cat. I tried to warn her that that Rick creature was trouble. He made me run for my life when I hissed at him. Her eyes stopped leaking when he went away. I sure was glad when HE went away. I probably would have had to dry those leaky eyes of hers every night!

But then Sweet Stuff came back, and Emmie’s eyes stopped leaking! I guess he's good for something after all!

But something’s wrong, now. My Emmie hasn’t been home. I hope she didn’t go away, too. Her toys are still in the corner, so that’s a good thing.

But it seems like Sweet Stuff naps almost every day.

Wait! He’s napping now. Maybe I can just sneak up onto the bed without him pushing me away and telling me to go away again. Yep. He’s napping all right. I’ll just take a little bath while I watch him.

Wait. His eyes are leaking too! Humans aren’t supposed to leak when they’re napping, are they?

No matter. I wonder if I can just reach over and dry his eyes while he’s napping. Mmmmm, salty humans.

A nap sure does sound like a good idea. These humans sure can wear me out sometimes.

Why doesn’t Sweet Stuff nap in a sunny spot? It sure is more comfortable. That’s okay. I’ll just curl up under that hairless chin of his.

Whoopw! He’s still leaking. I’d better just catch those.

Now to try for that nap. Come to think of it, Sweet Stuff’s chin is getting a little scratchy.

Maybe one day he’ll understand. I just hope I live that long.