Note

This is sort of loosely based on 'Mistofelees' New Owner' by yayne I liked the story, and wanted to see if I could do something like it, though I changed a few details, like Jacob being gay. He's not here. There are a few other changes as well, either just because this is my story, or I couldn't find out the accurate information. Sorry.

This happens 13 years after the first video was made. Andrew Lloyd Webber has called the remaining movie cast back to do a 30th anniversary video, with proceeds going to various animal charities and such. They know about the existence of the Jellicles. One new member, Alicia Connors, does not. This is her take on things and what happens during and after the second DVD is made.

Chapter 1. Ecstatical, CATS!

Alicia Connors dropped her backpack of supplies and looked around the set. She couldn't believe it. Four years of hard work, surgery, no sleep, no life outside her obsession, and she had made it. She was on the cast of CATS. And not just some little community theatre production, but the real cast, Andrew Lloyd Webber and everything. She couldn't believe her luck. Granted, she was only the understudy for Electra, but she was ON THE CAST, and that was enough. She was also one of the makeup and costume girls, and she knew she might be called on to do a bit of gofer work, but at that moment, she didn't care. She had made it.

Someone sidled up behind her, making her jump. A familiar chuckle rose in the air. "You're the new one aren't you, the little understudy that just barely got in?" Alicia turned around. It was Bryn Walters, player of both Plato and Macavity.

"Go get me a coffee," he demanded.

"I just got here." Alicia stammered, "can't I get situated first?"

"No, you can go do your job, before I get you…"

"Leave her alone Bryn, she's not your personal coffee girl. It's her first day, let her get settled in like everyone else," came another voice. A shorter, dark haired man said, coming up out of the changing rooms.

"Hey, she's a gofer, I'm just making sure she can do her job."

"Don't be an ass, we got tired of it last time."

"Hey, the minute I start taking behavioral advice from a fag…"

"Bryn, that'll be more than enough," came a third voice. A tall, lean man of maybe 40 sidled up to Alicia and wrapped an arm around her as Bryn stalked away "You all right, honey? Next time he bothers you, tell Mr. Webber. We had problems last time. Either the Mac costume turns you into an ass or they typecast him. I'm John, by the way, John…"

"Partridge. Yeah…I, um…I'm sort of a major 'Cats' fan. I'm Alicia Connors, by the way"

"Well then, you're the luckiest girl on the planet now, aren't you, hon? Other than Bryn, you should have the time of your life here, Right Jake?"

The dark haired one nodded "Yeah. I know I'd do nothing differently if I could go back. Jacob Brent, or, as John likes to call me when he wants to piss me of, Quaxoffelees." Alicia shook his hand, grinning. "Wow, I can't believe how nice you guys are. You play my favorite characters. I always figured you'd be a little…you know…"

"Stuck up?" Jacob supplied "Nah, we leave that to Bryn. He's so good at it, you know."

Alicia cracked a smile. Bryn had almost made her cry when he'd threatened to get her fired after only five minutes on set. It was just the wrong time of the month to mess with her.

Bryn came storming back up, punt kicking her backpack out of his way as he rounded on the three. "Hey, gofer, I asked for a coffee, and I haven't gotten it yet. Do your damn job before you lose it! Your not gonna get by here, hiding behind those two poofs! It's not like they can't replace you in a shot! Ha, an understudy for Electra? You're pointless! You're useless!"

Something snapped. Alicia glared at Bryn, an eye twitching.

"Get your own god-damned coffee! Mr. Webber hired me over hundreds of others, I am not useless! I'm just as important as you, you hack! Your crowning moment is a fucking Giggle! You're Plato, a chorus kitten, and Macavity might get his own song, but he doesn't even make an appearance except for before and after! Even Old Gus and Bustopher Jones get more screen time than you, so shut your face and get out of mine!"

Somewhere behind John, a voice sounded "Damn. I like her." accompanied with a groan. Alicia wasn't finished.

"Furthermore, if I hear one more gay slur, I'll shove something up your ass so far you'll be coughing up whatever I decided to put there!"

The voice sounded again "Damn…Misto, I really like her!"

"What, you telling me we got another queer on board?!"

"I'm straight as hell, you asswipe, but that doesn't mean I have to listen you go around ragging on everybody that is gay just because they're gay. Now leave me alone before I get really mad and bust out the military training!"

Alicia turned around as a speechless Bryn stomped off, cursing fluently under his breath. "What the hell was that?" Came the amazed sounding voice for a third time. Alicia looked to see who it was. Two people in back were in Rum Tum Tugger and Mr. Mistoffelees costumes, looking at her in disbelief. John chuckled. "I think Bryn picked the wrong time to piss her off."

"What?" asked the one in the Tugger outfit.

"I think it's her time of the month."

"How do you know that?" Alicia asked, blushing.

"Honey, I'm Gay. It's sort of my job to know that sort of thing about my girlfriends."

"Ah," Alicia muttered before she took actual notice of the two Jellicles in back. "Hey, who are you two? Are you their understudies?" She said pointing back at Jacob and John "Why are you in costume? Oh, Shit! Am I supposed to be in costume? Why doesn't anyone tell my these things?"

"Hey, calm down kid, you're not supposed to be in costume, Don't worry" Jacob said, patting her on the back. He looked at John and the two in cat getups. "She had to find out sometime, better it be sooner than later." Alicia looked up at him in confusion.

"What's going on?"

"They're not in costume." John said.

"What? What is this? Is somebody pulling a prank on me? 'Cause that's not funny."

"No, honestly, no pranks," Jacob exclaimed, waving his hands in pardon. "Let me explain. You see, the last time we did the video, I went and got a cat that looked like Quaxo, and brought him around the set. As we were filming, ah, well, it's sort of a long story, but he ran off and when we finally found him, he was…well, like you see him now. The last time we made the video, we sort of, kind of, found out that Jellicle cats actually exist."

Alicia looked at him, shaking her head "That's not funny guys, really not funny. I mean, thanks for saving my ass with Bryn back there, but something like this just isn't funny."

"We're not being funny, honestly! Mistoffelees, Tugger, show her."

"If we have to." the Rum Tum Tugger grinned. A slightly glowing haze coated the two of them, and as Alicia watched, the two understudies transformed, impossibly, into a huge black and gold Maine coon mix and smallish black and white tom. Alicia stared for a minute straight, wobbling, before her eyes began to waver. "I got her!" John called as she started to topple over. The two cats looked at each other and returned to Jellicle form as Jacob and John fanned off Alicia.

"Ah, here we go. Welcome back, sleepyhead." Jacob smiled as Alicia's eyes opened. She was sitting on the ground, four faces surrounding her. Two were cat faces. "Ah!" She cried, sitting up in a shot "What the hell? There's no way…no way…this is-this is impossible! Jellicles can't exist!"

"Actually, its ineffable…here, feel my face if you don't believe us." The Rum Tum Tugger said, leaning down in a very non-threatening, very sexy way. Alicia, action taking over in her mind, blushed 'Did I just think a cat was sexy? No, no, this is a prank, he's not a…' her hand reached up and touched his face of its own accord.

A fine, thin layer of what could only be fur covered it, from his forehead to his nose, to right over the tiniest of clefts in his top lip. The whiskers, which she thought had been glued there with spirit gum, were real. Her eyes grew wide, and Tugger, both to prove his point and to tease her, took her hand from his face. She saw the small, extra joint in his fingers, saw the claws retract, and as he kissed the back of her hand, she felt the tiny barbs on his tongue. Alicia's eyes began to unfocus again, and if she hadn't already been on the floor, she would have fallen. Tugger held onto her as Mistoffelees scolded him.

"Really, Tug, do you have to tease all of them? She's having a hard enough time believing it."

"Hey, she's doing better than Gruber did. He fainted dead away, and we hadn't even Jellicle'd out in front of him."

Alicia sat on the floor, trying to take everything in as she took tiny sips of the water someone had handed her. "I heard my name," came the voice of a third man. He was shirtless, in jeans with the top half of a grey striped unitard hanging over the top. A Jellicle wig and grey tabby makeup dominated his face, but Alicia recognized him. Michael Gruber crouched down and held out his hand.

"I know it takes some getting used to, and if they haven't told you already, don't feel bad: I fainted too." he helped her to her feet, a friendly smile under the makeup. "You're doing better than most of the few new ones. But after that thing with Bryn, I can see why. It's nice to have you in the crew, Alicia. Anyone who can stand up to 'his almighty Brynness' like that is fine in my book. You going to be okay with all this? I know it's a bit of a shock."

"I think I'll be okay…this is just going to take some getting used to. I mean, all the implications…how deep this could go…I…it's just amazing…13 years, and the secret's still under wraps."

"We know when something is important enough to protect. If we let it out, well, you've already realized the implications… I don't think what you could imagine is much off from what might actually happen, especially since you were with the government for a while."

"Yeah…"Alicia whispered. Michael looked up, grabbing a pants pocket as a cell phone went off. "Ooh, gotta go, Charlotte needs me back in makeup. See you around."

"Yeah…"

"So…any questions?" John and Tugger asked at the same time. Alicia looked up at John.

"Are you sure you're gay?"

"Hundred percent, sorry love."

"Damn."

John laughed, and smiled. "Just for the record," he said "I am, but Jacob isn't, despite what Bryn said."

"Really?"

"Yep. Married, with a munchkin."

"Well, damn again." Alicia said, making a silly little sad face. "O-okay, now to you two…" she said, addressing the Jellicles. "How many of there are you?"

"Worldwide or in the cast?" Mistoffelees asked. "Both." Mistoffelees grinned. She was getting used to them pretty fast, if she was prepared to ask those questions. "Worldwide, we're something like 3 to 5 percent of the cat population. As far as the cast goes, there's few more than twenty. And before you ask, Old Gus and Asparagus are two different cats. They're brothers…long story…but everyone else asked eventually."

"Okay. Good to know. Now, how come you two aren't like a hundred years old?"

"What do you mean?" Tugger butted in, looking confused. Alicia frowned, thinking how to put it. "The book this play's based on was written like 90 years ago, and it's … a bit obvious now that you're the ones in the poems. How come you're not older?"

Mistoffelees and Tugger looked at one another. "The man that wrote those poems knew of us." Mistoffelees said.

"Well, not us, per say, but the Jellicles in general. Old Deuteronomy was his cat." Tugger cut in.

"You're joking." Alicia said, sitting down on a nearby pile of 'junk.' Jacob and John quietly withdrew. They knew the story, and they had to get to makeup, besides. Mistoffelees shook his head. "No, really, in his last life, Old Deuteronomy lived with Mr. Eliot. He thought that the Jellicles needed to be remembered, if anything should happen, you know, worried over the wars and everything, but he told Mr. Eliot, and well, you know the rest…"The black cat flushed slightly and rubbed his neck.

"Yeah, but how did he know about you? Are you two on-second lives?"

"No. Um, can you believe in magic?"

"What? Oh, well….I guess if I can accept that a formerly fictional species of cat-beings can exist I can believe in that." Alicia murmured, feeling, now that the shock had worn off, a bit awkward around the two men-toms. She wasn't sure why. Mistoffelees smiled. "Old Deuteronomy has magic. During that lifetime, he had prophetic visions about a few future tribe members and four of his sons."

"Four…? I always heard the 'three brothers theory'; you know, Munkustrap, Tugger and Macavity. Who's the fourth?"

"Well, at least that part is right. People are brighter about this than I thought." Tugger grinned. "Alicia," he said kindly, winking at her and smiling as he wrapped an arm around Mistoffelees' shoulders, "Let me introduce you to my baby brother." Alicia looked at the two in surprise. She could understand the three brothers theory. All of them had at least some tabby markings on their face, and Tugger's mane was striped, even if the rest of him was coated in spots…but Mr. Mistoffelees?

"I know I don't look it. I take after my mum, but…yeah."

Alicia sat there, digesting the information, watching with half an eye as Mistoffelees noticed something stuck in Tugger's mane and proceeded to groom it out. Tugger ignored the process except to lean in a bit. He turned to the stunned girl.

"Anything else? I'm not as disobliging as my song leads everyone to believe, so shoot."

"Um…just how much like cats are you when you're in-Jellicle form?"

"Oh," said Tugger dismissively "it's about 50-50. We look like you, mostly, and we can eat stuff in this form that we can't as cats. And there's the whole talking thing, but we're still cats, so don't get shocked if we do something that's human taboo."

"Like what?" Alicia said worriedly. Tugger grinned. "Well, I've read a few fan fiction stories when John lets me on his computer. Nobody can seem to figure out if Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer are twins or mates or what. They're both, but it works different with cats, sooo…yeah. Same with Coricopat and Tantomile. It's sort of the whole, 'who else would put up with them' thing."

"I see. That does make sense." Alicia fidgeted with the toggles on her backpack. Tugger extricated himself from his brother's grooming and slinked down beside her, leaning in close and speaking softly. "You don't have to pretend to be comfortable around us, you know. I know we're unsettling. You just have to let it come…naturally, dear." He rubbed against her shoulder and purred. Alicia tensed up and blushed furiously before a hissing snicker sounded and the Rum Tum Tugger bounded off. Mistoffelees sent a small blue bolt after the tom, which hit him square in the butt. Tugger hopped spasmodically and Alicia giggled despite herself.

"Did he just hit on me?" came her bemused reply.

"Don't worry about it. He hits on everybody. Alicia, he was serious though, about the comfort thing. You don't have to pretend to spare our feelings. We know we're a shock, and we won't be offended if you're a bit jumpy at first, but…if you ever need help, or just someone to talk to, and you don't want another human to hear it, well, we're here, and we know how to keep a secret."

Alicia really looked at him for the first time. Technically, he was in his Quaxo form, with the white on his legs and right arm. His eyes, she noticed, were two different colors, one blue, one gold. Suddenly, he no longer seemed threatening, or even frightening. Just a little strange. She smiled "Thank you, Mr. Mistoffelees."

"Please, call me Misto, or Mistoffelees. The Mister bit's just there to help the song's tempo along."

"All-all right…Misto."

"Miss Connors! I need your help in makeup, someone's tied the mane in knots!" Came a voice from back stage. It was Charlotte. Alicia jumped up, running back to the booths to help the older woman, waving awkwardly to Mistoffelees as she went.

Somewhere near the pipe, Jo, Drew, Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer lay piled together in silent giggles.