Author's note: As someone who has lived/worked with cats nearly all my life, I have seen just what intelligent creatures they are. I admit I may be potentially stretching a bit here, but I firmly believe that cats understand far more than we humans think they do! ;) If you are not as well acquainted with the behavior and thought process of cats as I am, I respectfully ask that you allow your imagination to fill in the gap while reading, so to speak.

Timeline/context note: This story is related to an upcoming AU novella; approximate timeframe is the spring of 2022.

Legal B.S.: seaQuest DSV and its canon elements are property of Rockne O'Bannon, Amblin Entertainment and NBC. I'm just a long time devoted fan.

Thanks: to Missy and Scorp for beta services rendered.

Dedication: Happy birthday, Darkin! You're a wonderful friend...I hope you like and that you have a great birthday :)

A Piper's Tail

by Cheile

She blinked blue eyes up at the new human, meowing politely in response to the softly accented voice telling her what a lovely creature she was. She was not at all hesitant about rubbing up against the hand that was offered, or allowing it to scratch her ears. She would have limped forward to rub along her ankles as well, but the man lifted her into his arms, bringing her eye level with the woman. She leaned forward, bunting her head against the woman's cheek, eliciting a laugh from both humans. They were expressing surprise at how she was so comfortable with someone she had never met until a few minutes ago.

But they shouldn't have been. The man had been telling her from the moment he had brought her into the house that "Kristin" would be returning in a few days. And even if he had not mentioned her at all before this first meeting, it still would have been obvious. Her scent permeated the house, its belongings and a hint of it even lingered on the man as well; the little feline was easily able to detect and distinguish it from the other scents that were present.

Now Kristin was running a gentle fingertip over her bandaged paw and asking what had happened. The touch and the question brought the small cat's mind back to the day the injury had occurred...

It had been a beautiful day—the powerful aroma of blooming flowers mingling with the smell of the nearby big water, and the spring sun warming her fur and tempting her to curl up for a nap. She had been looking for a safe place to do so when the sound of scratching caught her ears. Spying the repeated scattering of sand into the air made her forget all about a nap and she went over to investigate; there, she discovered a small, funny-looking creature with multiple legs digging itself a hole. It stopped, eyeing her for a long minute, and she took the opportunity to get a little closer. When she leaned in for a sniff, it scuttled just out of reach. Determined, she pursued it, stalking it in a circle. It continued to evade her, so she finally pounced on it in an attempt to hold it still. It flailed and scrabbled under her hold and she was leaning in again to sniff when an intense pain suddenly shot up her right front leg. Howling, she tried in vain to get away from the creature, to pry it loose. But no matter how much noise she made or how she struggled or shook her leg, the creature had now clamped onto her tender paw with one of its overly large front limbs and refused to let go.

Focused only on the pain, she didn't notice the man when he came running, not until he scooped her up with one hand. She fought against his hold as he worked to pry the creature off, unintentionally scratching and even once biting him. But he didn't seem to notice or care; focused entirely on her injury once he had gotten rid of the awful creature. Her refusal to let him examine her swollen paw led to a trip to a place with too many bright lights and harsh smells that stung her nose. There, she was poked, prodded, had her sore paw manipulated and put in an "x-ray", and finally bandaged. They also pricked her with something sharp which made her sleepy. When she woke up again, she found herself lying on a soft blanket that was spread out on a large couch. The man was sitting next to the blanket with a book in his hands. Once he noticed she was awake, however, he put the book away and carried her into the kitchen.

The next few days were full of exploring the house she was now being kept in. She was soon able to walk on her own, albeit with a limp and, except for having to accommodate that, she managed to move around almost as easily on three paws as she normally did on four. Even the stairs that led to the upper floor were manageable and she investigated each and every room on both floors. Outside of her explorations, she followed the man—Nathan, he told her he was called—all around the house, and even outside, though he admonished her gently not to leave the porch unless she was with him. Having no desire to encounter another of the creatures who had wounded her, she obeyed.

The day before Kristin's return, Nathan told her there was someone else important he wanted her to meet. She assumed it was another human, so she was surprised when he picked her up and began to carry her towards the big water. The rushing, roaring sound made her nervous, but she instinctively knew that he did not intend to harm her. The big water's smell tickled her nose and she soon forgot about being nervous as she eagerly sniffed at the air.

Her attention was distracted by a sudden hard vibration and she realized that Nathan was banging a large stick against the boards they now stood on. She mewed to ask him what he was doing and he told her to wait and see. The words were barely spoken when a spray of water shot up before them, which was followed by an odd bird-like chattering sound. Her ears flicked forward in surprise, eyes growing wide when a very large, silvery-gray creature popped its head up out of the water. The little cat stared in curious confusion as the new creature continued to make the chattering noise. It was not a bird, yet it sounded like one. What was it?

She then realized that Nathan was talking to the gray creature, just like he talked to her. The creature continued to make its noise, but a mechanical voice speaking human words had now joined in. She looked around in confusion; no one was there but the three of them. She meowed loudly, not understanding what was going on. Nathan rubbed her ears to calm her, turned her attention back to the gray creature and repeated the word "Darwin". Looking down at where it floated in the water just below, she realized that Nathan was telling her the creature's name. It was eyeing her just as she was eyeing it, but its look was one of friendly curiosity. She meowed at it, wondering if it, too, could understand her. When it didn't respond, she raised her voice to a yowl.

The gray creature began to whistle and chatter again. Nathan chuckled after listening to the mechanical human voice that followed, explaining that the "vocoder" was not set up to translate meows. His amusement increased when the mechanical voice's response was to "make Lucas fix" and he was still laughing when he had to hurriedly shield the cat from the splash of water that was aimed at him in retaliation...

The humans' combined laughter distracted the cat from her thoughts and she looked at them curiously, wondering what could be so funny. She mewed and reached out towards Kristin with her good paw to get her attention. This prompted Nathan to pass her over into Kristin's hold. She went willingly, rubbing her forehead and nose against Kristin's shoulder. Her ears flickered when they began talking about her again; this time, Kristin was asking about how Nathan had named her. Piper still did not understand why the young neighbor human who had visited two days before had found it so amusing that she was following Nathan around the kitchen, but it had provided him with the idea for her name. Her puzzlement at human thinking aside, she liked the sound of it. It was not harsh-sounding, but almost musical, like her own voice.

For the rest of the evening, Piper remained either next to Kristin or, when she was seated, in her lap. A vidlink call was made to the vet clinic, and the vet instructed Kristin on how to examine the injured paw to determine that it was healing properly. Piper was hesitant when Kristin began unwinding the bandage, but as with Nathan, her instincts told her that she could trust that Kristin would be careful not to hurt her.

After a careful examination, both by Kristin and what the vet could see via the link, the vet determined that it appeared to be on its way to healing. She informed Kristin of the follow-up appointment in three days and severed the link. Piper yawned as her paw was rewrapped in bright blue bandaging. All of the excitement of the day was making her sleepy. She actually dozed off on Kristin's arm as she was carried up the stairs and placed in the blanket-lined basket that had been designated her bed. But when Kristin left the master bedroom, Piper sat up, stretched carefully and limped over to the humans' bed. She eyed it for a long minute, mentally judging the distance, and then leaped up onto it.

The thick comforter was soft under her three good paws. She padded in a wide circle around the length and width of the bed's surface before settling into the bed's center near the two pillows leaning against the headboard. She yawned again and closed her eyes, and was slipping into a doze when she heard the bedroom door open. Deciding she was too tired to acknowledge whichever one of them it was, she turned onto her left side.

She felt the bed shift behind her and realized that whoever it was had come in to sleep. The light touch of Kristin's fingertips stroking her ears followed and she mewed without opening her eyes, the rhythm of her breathing settling into a soft purr. The feel of the bed shifting again a few minutes later didn't register until Nathan's hand came to rest on her side, his fingers lightly massaging her fur. Her purr became slightly louder and, comforted by the presence of her two humans, she drifted into a deep sleep.

*fin*

A/N: for anyone confused about how Nathan came up with the cat's name, the neighbor girl's comment that inspired him was a reference to the Pied Piper.

Thanks for reading...and, if anyone wants to know: yes, you will see Piper again in the future. :)