Bonus

Chapter 34: Mouse's Tale

The Nineteenth of January

-0-

Hello there! Ratana here, but call me Mouse. Or considering that you can't actually speak to me, think of me as Mouse or something. I haven't the faintest idea what I am supposed to be doing, so please bear with me. Cat just handed me this book and asked me to have the final word on the last few pages. And who am I to decline my best friend? I'm no writer (in my very humble opinion), but I'll do my best.

Let's see, where did Cat leave off? Oh yes, it was the day Sleeping Beauty finally woke up. It seems like forever has passed since then, but I can remember it like it was just yesterday. Unluckily for me, Cat has already filled you in on everything exciting that went down on that day so I have to think of another place to begin.

Okay, so … Once Cat finally woke up, she recovered pretty quickly. Either Stephan or I was at her side at all times to make sure that she ate her food (which I helped cook because Arvin showed me the way to the kitchens) to get her eating healthily again and to make sure she didn't hurt herself. The doctors were hesitant on declaring Cat well enough to go out and have some fun due to her status as a princess, but Cat grew frustrated after a week and all but demanded that they let her go back home with me. After that –

You know what? I simply cannot write like Cat does. I'm going to do things slightly differently if that's fine with you. It'll help me sort my thoughts. Starting now.

Concerning Arode: While Cat was trapped in her room thanks to the doctors, her parents had to leave to go back to Arode and take care of their kingdom again. They left Cat's brother, Prince Kye, with us for a bit. He was to return home a bit later.

Kye, as the prince insisted on being called ("We're all friends and family here, no need to be formal," he told us), was actually a really nice guy who often told Cat stories and facts all about Arode. I'm almost positive that Kye was the one who convinced Cat to travel to Arode once she was declared fit for travel. An invitation was extended to me to go with them, but I declined, saying that someone had to run the bakery. Besides, I had already left Gwen running it alone or with Peter for long enough while I was waiting for Cat.

My best friend soon persuaded the castle doctors into letting her go. She came back home with me for a couple of days to pack her things for the trip. It was sad when the day came for her to leave us for her trip. There were tears and promises to write often and a threat made to Stephan to watch over Cat or else because he was going with her as an "ambassador or Spelika" or some kind of fancy excuse. As I watched Cat's carriage ride into the sunset through tear-filled eyes, I couldn't help but think that it was like a new dawn was shining on our friendship … Or something sentimental and stupid like that.

She stayed in Arode for over three months. Three. T. H. R. E. E. Three. She absolutely loved it there, she told me in her letters. Cat received basic training on how to be a princess; although she already had princess-perfect posture and the brains, she had yet to have her skills "refined." What free time she had was spent either with Stephan or her family.

Her eighteenth birthday came while she was away, much to the joy of the kingdom of Arode. And my seventeenth came a few days later, which I celebrated with a few friends and family members at home in the bakery. It was kind of tragic, if you ask me. It was the first year since I had been born that we had not spent our birthdays together, and saying "happy birthday" in a letter with unpredictable delivery time wasn't the same as saying it in person.

And mentioning birthdays, the two lovebirds came back just in time to spend Stephan's birthday here in Spelika. I attacked Cat with hugs and knew immediately that even though she enjoyed her stay at Arode and would visit the kingdom again and again, home was here.

Concerning Gwen, Peter, and the bakery: I love my sister and her husband. When my parents became sick those years back, those two moved here and took care not only of me, but of Cat and the family bakery. They didn't have to, but they did. I know that Gwen really wanted to start her own family in her own little house, but felt like she couldn't while she was watching over me and working so hard in the bakery.

Anyway, Gwen, Peter, and I tried to run the bakery by ourselves while Cat was away, but unfortunately for us, Peter often had to leave us so he could work at his own job as a messenger because he wasn't exactly the best baker. To make up for the help, I hired someone to work in the bakery. He was somewhere between my age and Gwen's and was the second son of a baker who had moved from another kingdom to Spelika. He even had a little brother who helped out every couple of days for no charge (though I paid him anyway).

The hired help really came in handy about two months into Cat's trip to Arode. That's when Gwen told me that she was pregnant. I was going to be an aunt! I was so excited that I baked a cake just for us to celebrate. Gwen being pregnant presented a few problems, though. For instance, would she continue living above the bakery with me or would she go find a new place to live? Would she continue to work in the bakery?

The answers, my friend … Wait a second. Can I even call you my friend if you're just a person who I might not even know? Oh, unrelated.

Going back to what I was saying, I knew what I had to do: I told Gwen to stay. I was only seventeen, but even Gwen considered the house to be mine more than hers since our parents went to a better place. That's probably because it was The Hans Family Bakery and I was the last person in our family with the last name of Hans ever since Gwen married Peter Elrun. I told her that we were going to rename the bakery and that it would be hers completely. I would be the one leaving one day, not her. Yeah, it hurt me to say that because the bakery was my home, but Gwen needed and deserved it more than me. I'd still be there, but I wouldn't live there forever. I would move away.

Gwen renamed the bakery Ratana's (in my honor, she said, as if she knew any other Ratana) and just over seven months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Baxter. He had – has – his father's dirty blond hair and his mother's blue eyes. He was easily the most adorable thing I had ever seen at the time. He has grown up to be quite a handsome young boy, too. One who loves helping his mommy and taking care of his baby sister Kate, who looks just like her mother but with her father's smile and eye color.

Concerning the first of three important weddings: Is it not completely obvious who the first marriage belongs to? Yep, Cat and Stephan. Duh. It was about a month after they returned from Arode when they got engaged a few day's before Cupid's Day. Cat had been living with me in the bakery (though not because she couldn't live in the castle or something, mind you. She just wanted to live with me again for a bit longer.) when Stephan came in one day and asked for some chocolate cake. Since I was in on Stephan's plan, I knew that there would be no fresh chocolate cake in the shop yet because I had kept it in the kitchen. Cat grabbed the cake from the kitchen and when she walked back into the shop Stephan was down on his knee holding out a rose and a ring. Suffice to say, Cat dropped the cake and accepted.

I think that every single person in the kingdoms of Spelika and Arode was happy about the match. I mean, who could have asked for a better pair than a prince and princess of two neighboring kingdoms who were deeply in love? That's right: nobody at all.

They were married in December for some reason. I guess they just couldn't hold out for spring or warmer weather. It didn't even matter because it was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to (second to my own, but I'm also biased. More on that later). The ceremony was held in the ballroom closest to Cat and Stephan's beloved garden. I'm not even going to try to describe more than that because my description would never do it justice. Just know that two soul mates were happily joined in matrimony. And that I made the wedding cake. And it was delicious. Oh, and I threw carrots and vegetables all over a kitchen in the castle in the process of making it. But more than that you'll never know. Ha!

The wedding made Cat a princess by birth and marriage, a fact she was quickly accepting. The only thing she had a hard time accepting was that she would become a queen when Stephan's parent's decided to step down (which they did exactly a year later in another marvelous ceremony).

Concerning the second and most important of three important weddings: I haven't really told you this yet, but I'm sure this will come as no surprise to you that Arvin had officially started courting me, seeing me – whatever term you want to use – right before Gwen told me about her pregnancy. Yes, we had both been attracted to the other before then, but we felt no need to rush things. Although, I really must say that I fell absolutely head over heels in love with Arvin quickly. For every joke that had been made about Cat and Stephan being in love, I'm sure that there were two or three made about us, most from Cat or Amity. My two best girl friends were delighted at the match and when they weren't planning Cat's wedding, they would jokingly start on mine. I wasn't even engaged yet!

After my best friend's wedding, Arvin proposed to me. It was during the Sash Festival that year, during the ball. I was Arvin's guest for the second year in a row and things were going great until just before midnight, when I stopped dancing with Arvin and started walking towards an exit of the room (for reasons I shall not ever write down where Cat can read them and hold them against me). Arvin was close behind me as I walked down some stairs, probably trying to figure out what in the world I was doing. However, one of my nearly translucent slippers came off and I stopped to put it back on when Arvin picked it up.

"You're not going anywhere yet," he said with a knowing smile. He bent down and placed the shoe back on to my foot. When he didn't make a move to stand back up, I looked down at him curiously. He shifted his position and right there and then pulled out a ring to ask me to marry him.

Of course I said yes, and in early April we were wed. A better wedding I have never been to. I even managed to make my own cake (with some help and more than just vegetables being thrown). It was a smaller wedding than Cat's, but at least I could say that mine was outside and in beautiful weather.

After the wedding, I left the bakery all to my sister and moved into the castle (to the disappointment of a few of our loyal customers). Even though I was a princess, I still spent more than just a little time in the biggest kitchen in the castle. Soon, the kitchen and its cooks were making the best pies in the kingdom and everyone knew it was because of me.

Concerning the third of three important weddings: Actually, it's been just over five years since the whole witch-dragon taking Cat incident and this third wedding hasn't even happened yet. It's about to happen, don't get me wrong, but it took forever for Amity and Jonathan to admit how in love with each other they were. After that, Jonathan wouldn't propose! We almost began to think that our sweet little Princess Sarina, who is now a beautiful young woman, would get married before those two. Then, about one year ago, Amity decided that she couldn't take it anymore and as Jonathan entered a room that Amity, Cat, Stephan and Arvin were in, she stood up and tackled him. Yes, you read that correctly. It was completely unladylike, but our Amity is a very special girl, so I think that's part of the reason Jonathan loves her so much. Moving on, he fell down onto a sofa. Amity poked him in the chest as she said, "I love you and I want to get married sometime in this century." The next day Jonathan proposed and we are having the wedding next week.

Concerning children: It must be said that everyone in my group of friends is the happiest they've ever been. We are all married or about to get married and, oddly enough, we are all one big family now. We've even had a few of additions in the last few recent years with one on the way. In the October after Cat and Stephan were married, their daughter was born. She had brown hair that shone red in the sunlight and green eyes. They named her Rose but call her Rosie because Stephan still calls his wife Rose every once in a while.

During the middle of the following march March, I gave birth to twins, of all things. Arvin was very much amused, but if he had to give birth to not just one baby but two in one sitting then I'm sure he would rethink things. Not that the pain of childbirth really mattered in the long run because my baby boys were – and still are – the most precious treasures to me in the entire world. They have dark brown hair and green-blue eyes. We named the two little lads Douglass and Oran.

The next addition to the family came just last July. To the world we welcome's Cat's second child, a boy named Brandon. He already has a head full of bright red hair and his eyes are taking on a lovely hazel. He'll be one to keep an eye on when he gets older.

And that leaves me expecting my child to arrive any time now. Bets are being placed all around the kingdom on whether it will be a boy or girl. While I'm holding out for a girl, the strong kicks I've been getting wouldn't leave me surprised if it is a boy. Either way, this baby will be loved with all my heart.

Concerning everything else: Wow, okay. This ended up not being so terrible to write. It was actually – dare I say – no, write it? – easy to get sucked back into the memories.

Before I give this book back to Cat, I just want to say a few short things. First, Feya and her fairy-man-friend (I'm thinking that they will get married one day or whatever it is that full-blooded fairies do) went back to Wiltera Vinal's village with some soldiers, fairy and humans, shortly after the incident. They found Wiltera's body, and while I'll spare you the details, I will tell you that she was apparently smiling. They didn't do anything with the body that night because it was so late, but the next day she was gone. There are theories about what happened, but as long as Wiltera is gone, I don't care. Cat did, at first, but she's moving on. People have taken to calling Wiltera "The Rat," maybe to lessen the terrifying memory of her as a vicious dragon. The only reason that my friend hasn't moved on quickly is because she feels responsible for killing her, that Cat killed The Rat.

The other thing I want to tell you is that I am still Cat's best friend, as she is mine. We comfort and support each other through our challenges. We make the other a better person, I think.

Finally, the rule of King Stephan and Queen Catharine over Spelika has been mainly peaceful and prosperous. My rule as Princess Ratana over their kitchen has been equally great for the tongues and bellies of everyone in the castle. And I'm sure that's the way things will remain for years to come.

Author's Note: Sorry if you were expecting something new; I just wanted everyone to know I'm not dead yet, I finally edited everything, and I'll hopefully be putting up new (not C&M) stuff soon.

When I went through edited, I got rid of most of the stupid typos, added and deleted a few sentences, changed basic formatting and stuff so the chapters all match, and general things like that. Nothing too major. Also, I changed the cover for this story, so please tell me what you think of it. :)

Oh, one more thing: ever since this story was completed, people have been reading the entire thing but have stopped leaving reviews. I love the fact that people are still reading this story, but I have no idea who you are or who to thank. If you are one of those people, could you do me a favor and at least tell me who your favorite character is? Thanks. :)

Many thanks to Brimo, HauntedApple, Pokemonchen, guest, and Rosenomore (Sarina was Bird, Arvin, and Amity's little sister, by the way) for reviewing this chapter and to any new reviewers ... Actually, thank you to anyone and everyone who has ever reviewed, alerted, or favorited Cat and Mouse or PM'd me. I love each and every single one of you so much.

Thank you for your amazing support and for reading! You are awesome. -Lauren