Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I only own the OCs; the rest belong to Dreamworks or the Netflix series The Adventures of Puss in Boots. I dedicate this chapter (as always) to my amazing, dear internet friend and fellow fangirl Rival Argentica! I sincerely hope that this chapter helps you put the rough time in your life from a few months ago behind you once and for all, and I am sorry I could not post it sooner! You certainly remain my Muse for this particular story, and I am so glad you have re-invoked the passion for this story in me with our PMs. As always, I hope you enjoy; I tried to make this chapter incredibly long to make up for the wait. Oh, and Rival Argentica, it's because of you that this story is now rated T! I was reading some of our old PMs, and let's just say you practically begged me to write an extremely flirtatious and somewhat saucy scene between Puss and Kitty! See if you can find which scene I mean!

Apparently, carrying two unconscious cats on horseback attracts quite a bit of unwanted attention. The two figures clad entirely in armor continue to carry their precious cargo across the desert in an effort to keep all of the attention off of them, lest they totally blow their secret plot that demanded they capture Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws. However, currently the two armor clad figures do not yet know of the union of the two greatest feline swordfighters in all of the realms. For this moment, they do not particularly care, as each cat is tied to a different horse, each limb bound in order to prevent the two master felines from escaping and trying to dispose of their captors after retrieving any information about why someone would want to capture them. At first, both of the armor-clad figures remain silent, but soon enough, one of the figures begins to speak, his voice quite a bit louder than his compadre and riding partner would like to admit.

"Guillermo, are we almost there?" Andrés, the smaller of the two men inquires, taking off his helmet and wiping a hand through his curly black hair to attempt to get the sweat off his brow.

"Andrés, how many times have I told you not to ask me about that?" Guillermo practically growls, rolling his green eyes and turning back around to look at the younger man, though not without first checking to make sure Puss in Boots is still tied to the horse. "We'll get there when we get there and not a moment earlier," the green-eyed Spaniard sighs, not believing a man such as Andrés married his younger sister.

Guillermo was wildly protective over his younger sister Carmen, and yet, Andrés still managed to woo the younger sister of the Captain of the Guard, and so Guillermo had conceded and agreed to the marriage, if only to make Carmen happy.

"But, this trip is so long and boring!" Andrés complains, speeding his horse up until he is riding beside Guillermo, doing his best to keep up with his brother-in-law. "And I miss Carmen more than anything!"

"Well, I'd appreciate some silence, Andrés, since all you've done since we left is talk all day! We barely even captured our targets of Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws because someone nearly spooked them away!" Guillermo reminds, and at that moment, everything turns south.

Unbeknownst to the two men, Puss and Kitty have awoken after having been knocked unconscious several hours ago. Quick as a bolt of lightning, Puss manages to slash the ropes bounding his front ginger-colored paws to the horse's saddle. Grabbing his sword from his belt, Puss stands up on the saddle, holding the blade of his steel against Guillermo's left ear, making the human gasp as he slows his breath and looks at the famed ginger gato in front of him.

"Fear me if you dare!" Puss in Boots shouts, keeping the sword pressed to Guillermo's ear, not allowing the human man to move.

"Guillermo, help me!" Andrés yells in fear, chancing a glance over at his brother-in-law, but Kitty has Andrés at the point of her sword after slashing her ropes as well.

"Andrés, idiota, can't you see I'm a bit busy here?!" Guillermo roars at his brother-in-law, moving his head slightly to look at the younger man in question.

"I would not move so much, señor," Puss dangerously smirks as he repositions his blade to the lobe of the green-eyed Spaniard's ear. "One false move and you could end up with a significant weight being taken off of your left side, and I think you would much rather avoid that fate. ¿Sí?" the once-outlaw, now hero continues, sharing a look of confidence with Kitty as if to assure her they had the two men exactly where they wanted them.

"Sí, señor," Guillermo breathes out, calculating in his head whether or not he would have time to draw his own sword and counter Puss' attacks without losing an ear in the process.

"Now, tell us where we are and where you are taking us," Kitty growls out, moving her blade to where it sits beneath Andrés' quivering chin. "And maybe, just maybe, I shall be ever so kind and let the two of you go," the she-cat purrs out in the alluring and soft tone of voice she reserves for Puss, such as when she convinced him to take the job with Humpty all those years ago.

"Lo siento, señorita," Guillermo speaks first, not allowing his brother-in-law to ruin their guise of mystery. "Pero, I cannot tell you where you are or where we are taking you, for that information is classified, and our employer would surely kill us if our plan was to be known," the man continues in a calm tone of voice, never betraying any emotion on his face.

"But, Guillermo, I want to-!" Andrés yells in a panicked flurry before screaming slightly when Kitty tightens her hold on her blade and begins to look rather annoyed at the situation.

"You will tell us, señor," Kitty admonishes, casting a glance over at Puss to see that he still has his blade positioned under the older man's ear.

"Or else we will have to get very dark in the way we extract information from you, and we do not want that for our reputations. ¿Claro?" Puss finishes Kitty's thought, his green eyes narrowing as every muscle in his body tenses for a fight.

"You will have to kill me first, gato."

"That can be arranged! After all, you did kidnap us, señor!"

"Wait! ¡Espera, por favor!" Andrés begs, positively whimpering even as Kitty removes the blade from close proximity from the man's neck.

"Have you decided to tell us why you kidnapped us?" Kitty presses, her crystal blue eyes sparkling as she leans closer as one does when preparing to be told a secret.

"Sí," the younger man sobs, just wanting to see his dear Carmen again.

"Andrés, you tell them and I will make sure you never see the fame and glory we were promised!"

"Ah, so someone promised you fame and glory, eh?" Puss begins to put the pieces of this rather strange encounter together. "And who has enough power and money to furnish you two gentlemen with full suits of armor, hmm? Kitty, what do you think?" the ginger gato inquires, rubbing one of his paws through his whiskers, curling his lips in a smile.

"Probably someone with a vast amount of wealth that is ripe for the taking," Kitty smirks, her eyes shining as she thinks of the same plan Puss seems to be plotting. "And I say we find out who that is, Ginger."

"Sí. I could not agree more!" Puss shouts above the howling wind that appears out of nowhere and begins to swirl dust around the two cunning cats and their human hostages. "Now, señores, we can either make this a painless experience, or it can be a very painful experience for both of you."

With the threat looming in the air, the two men have very different responses.

Guillermo stands his ground even in the face of danger, not allowing any words to slip past his lips, no matter what may happen to him if he refuses. At least he will have kept the mission safe.

"I cannot betray my employer, nor what my employer wants."

Andrés, on the other hand, has never been called on an actual mission in this line of duty, and with the infamous Kitty Softpaws, now Kitty in Boots, standing with a blade to his neck, the younger man is absolutely petrified.

"The King and Queen sent us!" Andrés blurts out, his eyes wide with fear since Kitty still remains standing on the saddle with her blade held close to the cowering man. "They wanted us to bring you to the palace to gather you for a…"

"Andrés! If I was able to move, I would gladly take a blade to you and tell Carmen that you perished in the desert!"

Kitty and Puss share concerned looks and then exchange nods, a silent agreement on what to do with the situation.

"Take us to the palace," Kitty commands, lowering her sword and then grabbing the reins in her hands to put herself in control of the current situation.

"Try anything funny and you will seriously regret your life choices," Puss threatens, reminding the two humans what he and Kitty are capable of.

The two guards swallow nervously before clicking their tongues and giving the horses commands in Spanish that they use to get back to the King and Queen's palace. Both Kitty and Puss prepare themselves for the worst, and they know not to be naïve enough to hope for the best. Anything could happen at the palace.

Arriving at the palace, Puss in Boots is instantly reminded of all the fanfare and pompous behavior he associated with Far, Far Away when he helped Shrek and Donkey reunite with Princess Fiona all those years ago. Oh, what a whirlwind of activity and adventure those years were, surrounded by the thrill of the chase and the rewards to befit any member of the royal court, as Puss in Boots was a royal advisor to Princess Fiona and King Arthur after the death of King Harold. However, the world has changed in oh so many ways since then, including the fact that Puss in Boots now lives a constant, ever-changing adventure with Kitty by his side. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Puss in Boots casts a reassuring smile over at Kitty, and the tuxedo she-cat looks at Puss in concern and out of love, knowing that she would gladly die alongside her lover if the need arose. Whatever comes next, they would make it through this together. Just like every adventure leading up to this moment, Kitty and Puss will not abandon one another, no matter what comes their way.

"Till death do us part," Kitty whispers to Puss, and a smile overtakes his face as his emerald eyes sparkle at the sight of his wife and partner.

"And I will always remain by your side," Puss softly says back to his wife, feeling his heart soar in his chest as he thinks of how blessed he is to have her in his life.

Breaking through the two gatos' vows of love, two more guards come up behind the horses as the castle's portcullis closes. The two guards separate, grabbing the scruff of Kitty's and Puss' neck, hoisting them from the horses and dangling them in the air. Puss yowls in complaint while Kitty squirms to try and escape the vice-like hold, but the strength of the guards gripping the two cats increases, preventing them from dropping to the ground or running away. The tromping of the two guards carrying Kitty and Puss in Boots plus that of Guillermo and Andrés fill the cobblestone corridors, making it sound much like an execution march. Puss in Boots sincerely hopes that is not the case. Pulling to a stop, the four guards bow to the two massive thrones sitting in front of them, and then the two unnamed guards drop Puss and Kitty to the ground, causing both lovers to yowl as they impact with the less than comfortable flooring of the throne room. Fortunately, Kitty and Puss both have mastered the technique of cats landing on their paws even when thrown from a great height. Silence overtakes the room as the King and Queen of Spain study the two gatos in front of them, preparing to make the speech that could very well change Puss' and Kitty's lives. The lovers share a look of concern and prepare themselves for whatever the Royal Highnesses have decided to kidnap them for and why the were brought to Madrid in the first place. A moment passes, and soon enough, the King of Spain begins to speak.

"The government of Spain would like to thank you for your devoted service," King Ferdinand speaks in a booming voice, though his words are kind and his eyes are soft, denoting a great amount of respect towards Kitty and Puss in Boots.

"And what exactly are we being thanked for, Your Highness?" Puss in Boots inquires, taking off his hat and bowing to the monarchs as Kitty does the same beside him.

"We have heard of all the wonderous work you two have been able to accomplish in keeping the bandit problem in San Ricardo from becoming a widespread phenomenon," Queen Isabella adds in, realizing that her husband left very much to be imagined and did not fully explain as to why the two greatest swordsmen are being held in their royal palace with no notice at all. "Taking out the Comandante's lax and rather repulsive rule of the town was only the first step, I am afraid. As I am sure you know, the problem with bandits is not just something that San Ricardo has to face; it is widespread across the globe," the Queen continues, leaving Ferdinand's mouth agape, as he figured it was his turn to speak to the two felines in front of him and his wife.

"Sí. Right when your guards came and apprehended us, we were taking out a den of thieves who swindled sailors out of their money," Kitty explains, her blue eyes making contact with the Queen of Spain.

"Claro. And I very much appreciate all of your fine work, Señora Kitty in Boots," Queen Isabella smiles, and then continues as she sees Puss' mouth open to rebut. "No, Señor Puss in Boots, I do not require that you give the money you won from the thieves back to the sailors or to the Spanish government. You won the money after a fight, I am told, and the sailors cannot be tracked down individually, I am afraid. Truth be told, the Spanish crown does not need any more of a mysterious income."

Puss' face instantly becomes more relieved, knowing now that he does not have to give up the easy money he and Kitty were able to swindle the thieves out of by simply playing the game with loaded dice. Such money would be able to keep Kitty and Puss living without fear of running out of expenses for at least a few months, if not more.

"Reina, is there a particular reason you have called us here other than to congratulate us? I am afraid if we are not back in San Ricardo soon that the town will eventually face the inevitable of being overrun by more bandits or even having the deplorable magician Bloodsmith come back and try to terrorize the town," Puss questions, emerald eyes shining in the glint of the sun that enters from the stained-glass windows.

"Sorcerer, Puss," Kitty laughs, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. "He claimed to be a sorcerer, remember?" the tuxedo she-cat smiles, thinking of how easily she and Puss were able to defeat the so-called sorcerer in the small town of San Ricardo.

"Oh, yes, I remember!" Puss laughs, a devilish smirk appearing on his face as he swishes his striped tail back and forth while closing the gap between himself and Kitty. "And I remember how beautiful and strong you were while you came up with a plan to defeat him…" the ginger tabby continues, his mouth getting closer to his lover's, and both gatos feel their heartbeats quicken.

As Kitty leans in, the two lovers are interrupted by King Ferdinand clearing his throat to alert them of their presence in the royal court. Puss and Kitty flush a deep red out of embarrassment, and Puss whispers in a low voice that he will make up the moment to Kitty later when they have left the presence of the Royal Highnesses.

"So, do you believe you two will be up for the job of helping us remove the threats from Spain and the surrounding areas?" King Ferdinand asks with a sigh, rubbing his fingers across his temple and appearing much older and much more worried than he did upon first speaking to the two felines.

"Of course, you will both be compensated and paid handsomely for your efforts, and we will make sure that your location in San Ricardo is always secure when you are away," Queen Isabella adds in, not wanting the safety of their home or the lack of money to be an issue as to why Puss and Kitty would not take the job.

"Let me fill you in," Puss starts to explain to the King and Queen of Spain, a confident smile spread across his lips, showing his canine teeth. "I'm good, very good. I have a good memory; I'm afraid of nothing," Puss defines his own skills to the royals, wanting them to know his exact skill set and reasons why they have picked the right gatos for the job.

"Puss!" Kitty reprimands, slapping the back of her husband's head since it is not covered by his hat due to being in the presence of royalty. "They already know our skills, mi amor," she reminds, placing her paw in Puss' and staring deeply in his soul-filled emerald orbs. "They simply want to know if we would like the job, Puss. And, besides, I do believe that if we had to explain our skills that I would be the one with the better memory, Ginger," she whispers in his ear, and Puss can't help but laugh in that husky way of his.

"Sí, I believe that is one thing we can most definitely agree on, mi reina," Puss softly says in Kitty's ear, thinking that she looks positively radiant in the light of the window, almost like an angel or the revered Felina herself. "So, do we take the job or not? It really is up to you, Kitty. You must decide if you'd rather stay in one place or travel across the world with me, stopping crime like the old days."

"Oh, Puss, I would love to travel the world with you, mi rey," Kitty breathes in, a prominent smile on her lips as she imagines all of the adventure and romance she and Puss will participate in on their quest to save the world from injustice and thieves. "You know I am with you. Always," Kitty assures her husband, locking her eyes on his. "Not to mention, we will get paid much more by the Spanish government than we could have ever made just taking money from petty thieves like those we just busted," the tuxedo she-cat grins. "We can set all that money aside for when the house needs a few repairs or modifications, or if we want to travel for pleasure and fun after all of the jobs are done. We would never want for anything ever again, and we could easily help out those around town who need the money."

"Perfecto. I love the way your mind works, mi amor," Puss agrees, and they reveal their plan to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.

Both the monarchs are happy to accept Kitty and Puss in Boots into their renowned Royal Guard, and promise that they will soon have a job if they will listen to the villagers and follow their directions. Puss and Kitty could not be happier or more relieved to leave the palace not only with their lives, but with a job where they are wanted as professional heroes who will be well compensated for their efforts. Not a bad day of work considering they also still had the spoils from the night previous.

Sitting on a rooftop in Madrid, Kitty watches as the sun begins to cast its orange and pink hues across the sky, marking the upcoming sunset. A movement out of the corner of her eye alerts Kitty to a presence next to her, so she turns, prepared for anything. Puss stands merely three steps away from Kitty, two glasses of leche in his paws and his hat back on his head where it belongs.

"¿Leche?" Puss asks, sitting down next to his wife on the roof, dangling his boots over the edge of the tiles before leaning back into the rays of the sun.

"Gracias, Puss," Kitty thanks her husband, taking one of the glasses of leche from his paw before tipping it back and allowing the cool drink to settle on her tongue.

"De nada, Kitty," Puss smiles before drinking his own leche, enjoying the cool breeze that whips through his ginger fur. "You know, I must admit, I was worried in the palace earlier," the male gato brings up, concern on his face as he tosses a glance at Kitty.

"Sí. I know what you mean," Kitty agrees. "I didn't want to lose you again," the tuxedo she-cat admits, resting her head on Puss' shoulder and feeling like the one she loves will never be taken from her side.

"Nor did I want to lose you, mi amor," Puss whispers, dropping his leche glass and cupping Kitty's cheeks in his paws before tilting her head up and kissing her softly and slowly on the lips with all the passion he has been forced to withhold these past hours in the presence of guards and royals.

When they break apart, both lovers smile and rest their foreheads against one another, simply enjoying one another's presence and reveling in the fact that they were no longer outlaws in the whole of Spain. Now, they are recognized heroes and, as such, could not be held against their will by cities in Spain, nor could they be denied in any of the businesses in the whole of the country.

"So, any news from the people in town? Or are we just supposed to sit here and wait for trouble to find us?" Kitty smirks, swiping Puss' hat in the process, dangling it in front of his face.

"People talk; I hear things. We have a mission. Our glory is waiting to be restored!" Puss announces, a determined grin on his face as he leaps towards Kitty, paws outstretched, ready to retrieve his hat from her soft paws.

"Excelente! Well, let's get going, then," Kitty says, slipping Puss' hat on her head before jumping to the next roof, her boots making a soft thud against the tiles.

"You are going to be the death of me, woman," Puss mumbles under his breath, chasing after his lover in the steaming Spanish sun, prepared to face any danger so long as his reina Kitty Softpaws is by his side no matter what.

"At least your death would be as exciting as your life, then!" Kitty calls out, laughing as she flips through the air and lands on the back of their horse, prepared to travel and make their first money as official heroes of Spain.

Puss can't help but agree, so he spins through the air and lands on the horse behind his lover, whispering sentiments in her ear and then, ever so subtly, Puss steals his hat back from his thief of a wife.

A few hours later, Puss and Kitty arrive at their destination: a thieves' den in the mountainside in which many treasures are being held by the men and women who consider it their duty to rob others of their possessions.

"So, what is the plan, Furry Lover?" Kitty purrs out, slipping her arms around Puss' neck as they lie in the shadows, watching as the thieves sit around the fire, chatting and partaking in spirits.

"Well, first, we have to get back the stolen statues and goods these thieves took from the markets of the nearby cities," Puss starts off, looking Kitty in her eyes and rubbing his whiskers across his lover's face. "That is not a negotiation. Then, I guess, we should take out all of the bandidos and dispatch a force of guards to collect them and toss them in jail."

"Go on," Kitty prompts, knowing there must be some more substance to Puss' plan, with him being the famed swordfighter and hero he is.

"That was as far as I got," Puss admits, casting his emerald eyes downward and hoping that Kitty can fill in the gaps between where he left off.

"So, as always, it is up to me to come up with our plan?" Kitty inquires with her azure eyes shining in mischief under the light of the moon.

"Exactamente, mi amor," Puss sheepishly smiles, and Kitty cannot help but sigh and roll her eyes.

"There's only twenty of them anyway. Follow my lead, Ginger," Kitty smirks, thinking that they have faced greater odds before, particularly when fighting the guards in San Ricardo when escaping from the prison.

"As always, Kitty."

Slipping from the rocks, Kitty and Puss tie their horse to the lone tree and then begin to execute the plan Kitty came up with in less than three minutes.

To put their plan, well, Kitty's plan, into action, first the two lovers must come into the cave separately. Diversion has always been one of their strongest skill sets to use together to form the perfect plan. Entering first, Kitty crouches, making sure her leather boots do not make a sound against the stone of the cave the bandits are currently camping out in. Staying low to the ground, Kitty shimmies up a taut, drooping vine, pulling herself above the distracted and none the wiser bandits. Here the she-cat waits, her blade in her famously soft paws as she waits for Puss to enter the cave with all the bravado, swagger, and sense of cocky confidence that she knows will attract the attention of all of the bandits. As if on a cue, Puss' boots tramp into the cave, their familiar sound seeming to reverberate in Kitty's chest, the memorization of such a sound making the she-cat's heart fonder of her Furry Lover. As per usual with most of their schemes, Puss acts as if someone has done either him or Kitty a great insult, rattling off fiery Spanish threats, his emerald eyes glowing dangerously. Kitty likes to teases her husband that he does not seem to be able to distinguish between the times when someone may have actually insulted his honor from those when Kitty simply makes up the insult to launch Puss into his motivation for the scheme to succeed. Stopping at the outskirts of the lantern's light, Puss begins to speak in a low, dangerous voice as his hat covers up most of his face, purposely meant to make the bandits tremble in fear.

"Gentlemen, it appears to me that someone has begun to spread the rumor that I am not as profitable a mark as I once was," Puss begins to start the con, channeling his own rage from when he and Kitty were on their honeymoon and he figured out how low-value he had become. "And, with that being the case, I have come to ask you why you have the false notion that I am no longer worthy of the titles I once had," he continues, beginning to move into the light, showing the men his trusty sword as he fingers the hilt in his ginger paws. "Is it because I am getting older, señores? Because, if that is the case, I must assure you that I am still quite young and spry, and that my muscles and brain are far from slowing down," Puss inquires, speaking truthfully in the present moment, much to Kitty's disdain and shock.

Though Puss in Boots, notorious outlaw and renowned hero in certain parts of the world shares nearly everything with his best friend and partner, Kitty still does not know all of the ginger tom's past and secrets, just as Puss still does not know all of the deep, war-ravaged details from the tuxedo she-cat's past. However, to hear Puss voice such fears aloud of people believing he is too old to be worth the chase, Kitty feels her heart clench in her chest. Did her rey actually believe he was old? Did he feel as if every day was a battle of proving he could stay alive and compete with the younger gatos and even young human men? Shaking her head to clear all such thoughts, Kitty refocuses on the task at hand, ignoring the feeling of dread gnawing at her stomach. Surely, Puss would be able to fight in this situation like every other, right? Surely, Puss would not take the fake insults or conversation to heart and then freeze up in battle.

"And if you are going to make the bold statement that my love has made me weak, then I must whole-heartedly disagree with you, señores, because…" Puss trails off at that moment, because Kitty breaks through the orange gato's monologue by yelling out a warning to the bandits below her.

Seeing several of the bandits with their pistols aimed at Puss in Boots' head and other major body parts, Kitty steps out of the shadows and positions her dagger a few inches away from two bandits.

"Drop your guns. All of you," the tuxedo she-cat fixes the bandits with an icy cold glare that could kill.

"You are one blind cat. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into," the bandit leader guffaws, his chest heaving with laughter as he practically doubles over at the prospect of two cats engaging his highly-skilled mercenaries and bandits in a swordfight.

"Neither do you," Kitty smirks, leaping from her post, slamming two bandits' heads together, resulting in the two men falling down before they try to regain their bearings.

Kicking outwards with his booted feet, Puss manages to knock the sword off of a bandit's belt before the ginger gato begins to engage another bandit in a fight. His steel swiping against a bandit's blade, Puss manages to push the bandit backwards, toppling the man into one of his comrades as four more bandits begin to enclose Puss in a circle of blades pointed at him. Wheeling to face each bandit in turn, Puss begins to parry each blade separately, often deflecting one bandit's sword so that it hits the sword of the villain next to him. Steel clashing, Puss grits his teeth, landing one more swipe to a bandit's blade before leaping in the air, spinning as he does so. Next, the ginger gato grasps the top of a ledge within the cave, giving himself a higher vantage point, all the better to see both the battle and Kitty with. Parrying two outlaws at one time, Kitty has a look of determination creasing her forehead and a mischievous glint in her sapphire eyes. Laughing with pride, Puss watches as Kitty practically forces two bandits to their knees, using her blade as a countermeasure to assure the bandits could not strike her. The bandits fighting Kitty look upwards, casting Puss as well as the leader of the bandits a secret signal for help or mercy.

"Do not look at me. You are fighting a woman," Puss smirks, a dangerous look on his face and a sense of pride glowing in his emerald eyes. "You are going to lose," he laughs, leaping back down into the action, turning to face his lover as he grasps her paws in his own slightly larger ones. "Shall we, mi amor?" the ginger gato smiles, pressing his back against Kitty's as they stand, prepared to face the remaining bandits.

"Sí, Ginger. We shall," Kitty deviously smirks, intent on receiving a large lump sum of money for their efforts of defeating this particularly large gathering of bandits. "Let us even the odds," the tuxedo she-cat calls over her shoulder to her lover, and both gatos let out a battle cry before dueling with steel once more.

Due to spinning around to defeat bandits as swiftly as possible, Kitty and Puss end up crossing their arms, and Puss pulls Kitty's soft paws closer to his mouth, bestowing his wife with a kiss on both her paws and her cheeks. Kitty quickly kisses Puss back, and then the two lovers jump back into the fray, tying the bandits up and leaving them for the guards to retrieve upon Kitty and Puss giving the soldiers word in the nearest town.

"And the money kept rolling in from every side," Puss whispers in a conspiring tone to Kitty, making the she-cat laugh before they run out of the cave, their paws entwined as they escape into the desert with money on their minds and love in their hearts.

As the two lovers lie down to sleep that night in a hotel not far from the city besieged by bandits mere hours ago, Puss encircles his arms around Kitty's waist, pulling his lover to his chest as he feels her sides move up and down with each breath. Sighing contentedly, Kitty moves her head to rest near Puss' pillow, and she places her right paw directly on Puss' strong, comforting heartbeat.

"Was today as good as the old days?" Kitty inquires, wondering whether Puss enjoyed this particular mission more than he did when he was fighting a different slew of bandits every day in the town of San Lorenzo before the two lovers ever met.

"Better, Kitty," Puss assures, locking his green eyes on her blue ones as he smiles down at her. "Far better, mi amor," the ginger tabby continues, rubbing Kitty's head with one of his paws to attempt to lull her into a much needed and deserved sleep. "For, what is life without someone to share it with, eh?"

"Oh, how very smooth of you, Mr. Frisky Two Times," Kitty practically purrs out, rolling over to face Puss and place a kiss, soft and slow to her husband's lips. "And how many ladies have you used that line on before?" she inquires, doing her best to sound curious and angry at the same time, but failing, as Puss sees through her masked emotion of playfulness in an instant.

"Only one, mi reina," Puss whispers in a husky voice, the same voice that always makes Kitty go weak in the knees and results in her heart pounding so loudly she can hear it in her own eardrums. "You are my one and only, Mrs. Kitty in Boots; never forget that," the ginger gato continues, leaving a trail of kisses starting from the crown of Kitty's head down to the side of her neck. "I wish you would go ahead and tell me what the surprise for my birthday is, Kitty. You know how I get when surprises are involved," Puss reminds, smirking as his green eyes begin to fall into the familiar pattern of his begging, irresistibly cute face.

"Oh, Puss," Kitty purrs out in that tantalizing way that makes Puss purr in response and almost merits Puss to respond in that low tone of voice that Kitty adores oh so much. "I know how you get when surprises are involved. You try to stay on my good side by making me happy as well as becoming increasingly more romantic to get me to try and cave in and tell you earlier than I intended," the tuxedo she-cat "And I cannot say that I disapprove of the second condition. You are already incredibly romantic when you want to be, Puss, so whenever you decide to become increasingly romantic, I know I am in for quite the romance and love until I eventually decide to tell you the secret."

"Ah! Now you tell the truth, you cunning woman!" Puss practically shouts, pulling Kitty closer to him before continuing to press kisses on her silky black and white fur. "You appreciate how romantic secrets make me, hmm? Well, then, my Kitty, prepare to have a flood of romance descend upon you, because my birthday is not for another week."

"Oh, I am fully preparing myself for such advanced romance, Ginger. However will you outdo our honeymoon, I wonder?" Kitty laughs, thinking back to how special and romantic Puss was to plan their honeymoon in the place where they first met.

Smashing their lips together, Kitty and Puss kiss with the passion and heat of the sun as the candle on the nightstand begins to burn out, plunging the room into total darkness as the lovers prepare to turn in for the night.

Waking the next morning, Puss begins to panic upon feeling the spot on the bed next to him empty. Cold sheets remain on the part of the bed where Kitty had been sleeping peacefully like an angel the entire night. Raising his head, Puss frantically starts to search for his love before his green eyes lock on his wife, seeing that she is sitting at the small table in the corner of the room, laying out what appears to be a breakfast spread of some sort.

"Kitty?" Puss groggily asks, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and beginning to slip his boots on his back paws.

"Good morning, Puss," Kitty purrs, coming over to kiss the ginger gato on the cheek before pulling softly on his whiskers.

"What is all of this?" Puss inquires, not sure why Kitty has a breakfast spread for them in their hotel room.

"We are celebrating," Kitty replies nonchalantly, pouring out two glasses of leche for her and her husband.

"And, what, exactly are we celebrating, mi amor?"

"A successful first job as the contracted heroes for the King and Queen of Spain. Plus, I have…. An adventure," Kitty reveals to her lover, and she doesn't miss the excited meow that comes from Puss' lips.

Puss meows, his emerald eyes shining brightly in mischief and curiosity.

"Go on," he eagerly instructs his lover, clipping his sword on his belt before adjusting his famous hat on his head, making sure to fluff the yellow plume of the feather.

"Just the kind you like. Rescuing a town from a corrupt wizard," she reveals, clinking their two milk glasses together as Puss sits down across from her.

"Is the town in grave danger?" Puss continues to inquire, his emerald eyes widening at the prospect of saving a town from something other than bandits.

"Sí."

"Are the odds stacked against us?"

"Sí."

"Is it certain death?" the ginger gato wonders aloud, picking up a bit of meat and then proceeding to eat the small portion he grabbed in his paw.

"¡Sí! ¡Sí!" Kitty excitedly remarks, knowing just as well that Puss in Boots loves absolutely any mission that has the odds stacked so harshly against them that just about any false move could mean peril or certain death.

"Ooh! It is just the kind I like," Puss sighs happily, a purr building at the back of his throat.

"Well, I know what you like, Ginger," Kitty purrs, moving to sit closer to Puss before she captures his lips with her own in one of the most passionate kisses the world has ever known.

"Kitty, you're making it very difficult for me to want to get on the mission with you distracting me like that," Puss purrs in a deep, sultry voice as his pupils narrow while he presses kisses to every inch of his wife's face.

"That may or may not have been the idea," she laughs, rubbing one of her tantalizingly soft paws over Puss' head and neck.

Puss swears this she-cat is going to be the death of him.

Arriving in the town guarded by a wizard, neither Puss nor Kitty had expected for the gates surrounding the town to be locked with what appears to be a combination of both magic and a regular lock.

"Well, this will be a challenge," Kitty whispers under her breath, looking up at the massive steel gates surrounding the city that practically glow crimson with the magic that engulfs them.

"I take it you didn't know about the magic or the gates?" Puss inquires in a slightly sarcastic tone, as he and Kitty often use on one another when they are surprised by an outcome.

"No one mentioned it to me, Ginger," Kitty snaps back, glaring at him as he sapphire eyes scan the scene in front of her. "One of us needs to draw the wizard out of the town and distract him long enough where he is forced to put down the shields surrounding the town."

"And I suppose that you wish for me to act as the bait, hmm?" Puss follows his lover's train of thought, knowing it to be just like Kitty to suggest that he act as the muscle while she carries out the brains of the operation.

"Sí, mi rey. You just do such an amazing job at being the bait, and your fighting skills make you even more handsome."

Puss waves one of his ginger paws in the air, dismissing her comment for the moment being, but a sly smile appears on his lips as they prepare to enact stage one of their plan.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" Puss seriously inquires, wondering why Kitty always insists that she be the weapon of surprise whereas Puss in Boots puts himself out there and in the line of danger from the very start.

Kitty laughs before spinning through the air and climbing up a tree that overhangs the town.

"Don't die and you'll find out," she comments, a sly grin on her face as her blue eyes shine in mischief.

As Puss gets into position for the plan, he cannot help but think how truly lucky he is that Kitty loves him. If they were still enemies, he could only imagine how much worse his pain and potential of dying of each mission would be.

Neither Puss nor Kitty could have suspected that the wizard in question was their recently-found enemy Bloodsmith. (The man still had the desire to be called a sorcerer, not a magician or wizard, and Puss can't see why the man is so hung up on labels, anyway.)

"Why have you come to my town to try and defeat me, puny cat?" Bloodsmith practically roars, having only noticed Puss at this point in time, as Kitty is hoping the wards around the city will disappear as the wizard, sorry, sorcerer is forced to battle Puss in Boots.

"I think it is safe to say that you invaded my town first, idiota," Puss reminds, a pointed glare on his face as he stares at the sorcerer floating above him. "I am simply returning the favor. If you would not enter my town or practice evil again, then I would be allowed to spare you. However, in the interest of the Spanish government and that of my own coin bag, I hereby challenge you to a duel, not only for this town's sake, but for that of San Ricardo as well."

Not one to be outdone by a fancy-talking cat wearing leather boots, Bloodsmith smirks, wielding his staff and aiming a rather ominous cloud of magic in the general direction of Puss in Boots.

"Oh, poor little kitty. All alone without any friends to call upon," he taunts, and Puss simply brandishes his sword, waiting for the signal from Kitty to let him know when to enact phase two of their plan. "How truly pathetic!"

Puss barely manages to leap out of the way of a lightning bolt being hurled at him, the electricity bouncing off of the cobblestone and flashing in the sky, illuminating the dark of night. While fighting with the Bloodsmith, it becomes apparent to the ginger outlaw that his wife is nowhere to be seen, and the forcefields of magic seem to be down for the time being. Parrying a strike of lightning with his sword, Puss in Boots looks up to the rooves of the houses, desperately searching for any sign of Kitty. He spots her tuxedo-colored fur on a roof not too far from his current location, so the ginger swordsman begins to give her a bit of direction.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! ¡Ándale!" Puss yells over the raging battle, narrowly avoiding a ball of fire that the Bloodsmith hurls at him.

Instead, the ball of fire lights the farmer's cart of produce on fire, and the farmer will no doubt be an angry man when he awakes in the morning to find all of his fresh crops burnt to a crisp.

"You know what really helps me? When you keep saying 'Hurry up'," Kitty sarcastically comments from almost directly above Puss' head as she leaps from roof to roof, her boots echoing on the tiles. "I can only reverse a magic curse so fast, you know!" she adds in, rolling her eyes for good measure, though even Puss in Boots cannot see such a gesture in the dark. "Just keep him occupied!"

"What is it that you think I am doing?" Puss shouts back, jumping in the air before doing his spinning trick, ending up on the roof of a building with a dangerous expression on his face. "Señor, I would just give up this nonsense now. It is obvious that we will beat you for good and you will never be able to show your face in the villains' circle ever again!" he growls, emerald eyes as stormy as the sea, and his temper as hot as a forest fire.

"Ah, but you see, that is where you are…" Bloodsmith begins to taunt the ginger tabby, pushing Puss up against the brick wall and holding a dagger to the gato's throat with the help of a bit of magic.

"Done!" Kitty yells, jumping off of the roof as the crimson forcefield shatters around her, leaving the city open and erasing all foundations of the Bloodsmith's spell that kept the townspeople captives.

As she lands perfectly on the ground, Kitty gets her sword out of its sheath and meets her husband's gaze before freeing him from the grips of the Bloodsmith once and for all, a triumphant smile playing on her face.

"We would love to stay and chat, magician, but it truly would make your comrades in the villain world laugh at you and disrespect you more than they already do," the she-cat sasses, catching up to Puss and following her lover as he grabs her wrist and gives it a light tug to pull her into an alley that Kitty can only assume leads out of the town.

"Come on. This way," Puss whispers in a hurried tone of voice, wanting to get as far away from the vengeful sorcerer as possible since he and Kitty have now defeated- ahem, humiliated- Bloodsmith twice now.

Turning into the alley, Puss skids to a halt, realizing that the passageway dead-ends into the stone wall of a house.

"Not this way," the ginger furred tabby remarks, turning on the heel of his boot and preparing to run in the opposite direction, still pulling Kitty beside him as they rush through the night paw-in-paw.

It would be rather romantic if they weren't being chased by someone shooting fire at them.

"Where to now?" Kitty inquires, doing her best to search the area for potential escape routes, but upon finding no feasible routes, she continues to follow Puss, taking her wrist out of his grip and running in front of him just a bit.

Yet another dead-end appears, and Puss begins to swear under his breath in Spanish, using words that would make Imelda surely gasp and chastise her son from sunrise to sunset about using such foul language.

"And you kiss me with that mouth?" Kitty jokes, skidding to a halt beside her lover, pressing their sides closer together.

"Sí. And I'm about to do that now," Puss responds in that husky, deep voice of his, moving even closer to his lover before capturing her lips in his own, pouring all of his passion into her, wanting nothing to remain unsaid between them.

When they break apart, still in the dead-end of an alleyway, Kitty looks at Puss in utter concern since the walls of the buildings surrounding them are nearly unscalable, even for two of the best thieves and heroes in the world.

"What now, Ginger?" Kitty asks, concern lacing her face as she stares into Puss' deep, calming emerald eyes.

"Now we're trapped," Puss softly remarks, swearing once more as he does a small backflip off one of the walls, seeing if he could somehow make his way up the stone obstacle, not seeing the flame that is starting to build up behind him.

"Now what are you doing?" the she-cat questions, clearly getting annoyed that they have found themselves in a situation in which they cannot escape due to the fact that the Bloodsmith is sealing off their only exit with a ring of fire as they speak.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," Puss admits, eyes widening in panic as the fire begins to spread closer to them, the flames practically lapping at his ginger fur and smoke starting to fill his lungs.

"Come on, let's go!" Kitty shouts, knowing that it could take Puss forever and a day to come up with a plan, for while he was usually good at thinking of how to win a fight, he had less of an idea of when it was a good time to run from a fight.

Kitty always had to adopt the role of planner in their schemes or heroic missions, simply because Puss likes to live his life mostly on the impulsive side, doing what his gut feels is right, and that sometimes landed them in very real danger. Such is the case right now, in which the fire continues to lick at their skin and fur, threatening to consume them once and for all as the inferno comes closer and closer by the second.

"Come on, Puss! I think I found a way out!" she calls above the crackle of the fire, seeing a small window just big enough for her and Puss to fit through if they climb inside the house one after the other and didn't waste too much time.

Giving his lover a boost, Puss scrambles into the window after Kitty, and they both land unceremoniously on the hardwood floor of the house. Fortunately, none of the inhabitants of the house are awoken by the noise, so the two gatos manage to sneak out of the house with just as much skill and mystery that they used to enter.

"Which way?" Puss inquires once they reach the street, realizing that both directions lead out into the vast desert, and that either direction could lead back to their stallion if so desired.

"I don't know. You pick," she suggests, scanning for any trace of the Bloodsmith and keeping an eye out for their stallion. "Right or left?"

"Right," Puss chooses, and the two gatos practically soar through the air as they run with an unprecedented speed, each of them nearly flying as all four paws come off the ground at once.

Reaching their horse, Kitty and Puss hoist themselves onto the saddle before racing away, the dust from the desert kicking up behind them and heading back towards the town that currently is unaware of the fire threatening to engulf it. They had failed this mission, but the King and Queen of Spain would still count the mission as a success, for with the town burned or charred to a crisp, Bloodsmith would no longer inhabit the town and his wards would be broken. Neither Puss nor Kitty can forgive themselves, hearing screams build in the distance as the fire continues to spread around the main square.

The two gatos take turns with one of them leading the horse while the other one sleeps soundly, arms wrapped around the other, resting to prepare for the journey to come. They have no idea where their next adventure is going to lead them, so Puss and Kitty in Boots must take the time to rest and recuperate from the terror that existed when they were nearly devoured by the flames. At this moment in time, both Puss and Kitty are awake, with Puss sitting behind Kitty, his muscular arms wrapped around his lover as he holds the reins in his paws. Kitty, leaning back against Puss' chest begins to sigh, turning back to look at her lover with a small glare on her face and her sapphire eyes narrowing at her husband.

"So, Puss, I'm stilling sitting here wondering…" Kitty begins to speak, fixing her gaze on Puss as he kicks his boots against the stallion, urging him into a gallop.

"For the hundredth time, no. I did not remember to bring water," Puss sighs, his emerald eyes meeting Kitty's as they continue along the dirt road, working to escape the desert and find a town where they can stock back up on supplies and rations to take with them on their next adventure.

"Oh, great!" the tuxedo she-cat sighs, swishing her tail in a very irritated manner as she turns back around and surveys their surroundings. "Besides, do you even know where we are, Ginger?" Kitty asks, not recognizing any of the main geological features in the area. "Because I do not."

"No, Kitty. I do not know where we are. But, I promise you, mi media naranja, we will get our bearings in no time and we surely find a town some time in the very near future," Puss purrs out, rubbing his chin against Kitty's head, an action that usually makes Kitty start purring as well before she ends up kissing Puss until they are both breathless.

"Now we're lost," Kitty groans, barely resisting the urge to do a facepalm at the situation she has found herself in. "And now is not the time for new nicknames for me, Puss in Boots. We are lost, I am thirsty and hungry, and there is no town in sight!"

"Are you blaming me for being lost?" Puss questions, a defensive tone taking over his voice as he is able to keep out the anger in his voice since he is talking to his lover and wife, someone he loves with all his heart.

"Well, who else is there to blame? You're the one who got us lost. Why didn't you ask someone where we were going?"

"Who is there to ask? We are practically in the middle of nowhere! I am sure we will come across a town shortly. We statistically have to, no?"

With their tempers flaring and crashing, both Kitty and Puss decide it is a wiser course of action to just remain quiet and not speak to one another for the time being, hoping they will come across a town or at least a cantina in the near future in which they can procure food and drinks to quell their hunger and quench their thirst for nice, cool leche.

"Are you sure we're not lost?" Kitty asks after another hour on horseback and still no sign of town graces her eyes.

"I do not believe we are lost any more, mi amor!" Puss cheers, his emerald eyes lighting up as he makes the stallion gallop faster than ever before to reach the town before them. "¡Mira! It's a town! And I know this town!" the ginger gato remarks in an excited tone, leaping down from the horse and tying the quadruped to a hitching post before helping Kitty down. "There is a cantina not too far from here with some of the best food and the most wonderful leche in the world!"

"Finally! You have no idea how starving I am, Ginger," Kitty sighs in relief, rubbing one paw over her growling stomach to try and get the noise to stop.

"So, break for lunch?" Puss affirms, looping his arm around Kitty's, glad to see that they are no longer fighting now that they have a bearing as to where they are and will be able to restock their food and leche supply before heading towards the next adventure that calls their name.

"Break for lunch," Kitty agrees, accepting Puss' arm and pulling their bodies closer together as she presses a soft kiss to his cheek. "I am sorry I got so angry at you, mi rey. I guess I do not handle stress well on an empty stomach."

"No problema, Kitty. I know that it was a hard night for both of us with the mission turning out the way it did, so I have nothing to forgive you for, mi reina."

Walking into the cantina is one of the most awkward and eye-opening events Kitty has ever been a part of in her life of crime, adventure, and heroics. Puss pulls them both to a sharp stop, his eyes not able to meet Kitty's as he stares down at the floor.

"Puss, what is wrong, mi corazón?" Kitty questions, concerned for her husband as he begins to try and turn around to leave the establishment.

"I think, perhaps, we should leave this cantina. I fear I may not be welcome here," Puss admits, and he quickly turns on his heel, pushing his hat down over his eyes, not wanting to chance anyone in the cantina realizing who he is and that he may not be their most welcome patron.

Kitty does not question the sudden shift in her husband's demeanor, as she knows that she would expect Puss to follow her lead if they ever walked into an establishment where she might be banned. However, in walking towards the doors that exit the cantina, Puss and Kitty are too late to notice the two men who close the doors before standing in the shadows, looming over the two gatos with a thirst for vengeance or an explanation written all over the faces.

"So, we're doin' this routine again, huh?" a distinct Scottish accent demands from behind the bar, and it is all Puss in Boots can do to keep from shaking in his Corinthian leather boots as he hears one of the voices he thought he had escaped from, a voice he would never hear again so long as he shall live. "Every time you come in here, Puss in Boots, I have half the mind to smack some sense back into you, but ya always end up walkin' away just as fast as ya come in!"

With one small look of acknowledgement to Kitty, Puss turns back around to face the bar, a charming smile on his face and the same bravado he normally carries himself with returning once more.

"Ah, Pajuna! Lovely meeting you once more!" Puss practically shouts, walking towards the bar as his boots echo on the wooden floor, making it seem much like he is a gunslinger preparing to enter his last duel.

"You know each other?" Kitty inquires in a confused tone of voice, looking between Puss and the Scottish Highland bovine as she polishes a shot glass from behind the bar.

"Sí, Kitty. This is Pajuna; we met many, many years ago in San Ricardo before I…" Puss trails off, accepting Kitty's paw in his own as his lover meets him at the bar.

Kitty gives Puss' paws a reassuring squeeze, their secret code for letting him know that she is not going to pressure him into revealing any more of his past if he does not wish. Such a signal has had to be enacted in the past, such as when Kitty became increasingly haunted with the memories surrounding her childhood and the betrayal she put Puss through in their hunt for the Golden Goose with Humpty A. Dumpty years ago.

Taking in the sight of Kitty seated next to Puss at the bar, Pajuna smirks and then proceeds to fix Puss with one of her inquisitive glances that make it very clear that she already knows the answer to the question. "Is this a new flame, Puss?" Pajuna asks, her eyes lighting up in both mischief and curiosity, as she, like many others, is quite aware of the reputation the dashing Puss in Boots got when he became known as Frisky Two-Times and the Furry Lover almost simultaneously.

Puss lets out a very baffled noise, doing his best to sound disgusted at the idea while all the while showering love and devotion on his beautiful, intelligent, and cunning wife. "Kitty in Boots is my wife, and she is not JUST a flame!" Puss in Boots loudly announces, no shame present on his face or in his green eyes as he stares at Kitty before pulling her off of her stool and onto his lap. "She is my river of FIRE!" Puss lets all the world know, settling his paws on either side of Kitty's hips, feeling her starting to move slowly to where she can face him in all of his craziness that she loves to the moon and back.

Kitty cannot help but roll her eyes even as she flirtatiously places her paw on Puss' shoulders as she strokes his ginger and white fur with her tantalizingly soft paws that make Puss go mad just thinking about them. As if the situation could not get any more romantic and uncomfortable for the other patrons in the bar, Kitty begins to readjust herself as she sits on Puss' lap to where they are now chest to chest and face to face, love shining in both of their eyes and animal instinct threatening to come out sooner rather than later. "You're really bad at metaphors, Frisky Two Times," Kitty purrs, brushing her whiskers against Puss' cheeks, her heart soaring as she looks at the ginger tabby she elected to spend the rest of her life with as they are now married. "Surely you can call me by one of the names you elect to give to me when you know no one else can hear you…" she continues to purr in a teasing tone of voice, and Puss has to clench his fists below the barstool to keep from scooping her into his arms then and there and carrying her to somewhere only they know.

Puss lowly chuckles in such a manner that it almost sounds like a growl as he moves the few centimeters closer to Kitty's face, (And, oh, sweet Felina!) preparing himself to kiss her senseless right then and there, but first his head leans down closer to her neck to kiss her where she always….

Pajuna awkwardly clears her throat, making both of the gatos jump backwards in severe alarm, their heads crashing together and no doubt causing quite the headache for both Kitty and Puss. "AHEM! Spectators here!" Pajuna shouts at them, and Kitty leaps effortlessly across the gap to the barstool she vacated not too long ago. "I get it! I get it! You're deeply in love. No need to act in such a way in front o' my customers! In fact, why don't ya two lovebirds get a room, laddie?"

"You know, that is a most wonderous idea, Pajuna!" Puss exclaims, scooping Kitty into his arms before practically dashing for the exit, a bottle of leche in one paw as he searches for a hotel for them to spend the night in.

The two lovers can't help but stare at one another, Kitty smiling at the knowledge that Puss is becoming his more romantic self because he wants to find out the secret she has been keeping from him. Well, that is certainly all right with Kitty; she didn't need to be asked twice.

Barely in the threshold of the door, Puss and Kitty begin to kiss with the passion of a thousand suns with the blessing of a thousand stars above them, shining in the moonlight that has quickly bathed the area. Their lips attached to one another, Kitty makes fast work of discarding Puss' hat on the floor before they both practically vault onto the bed, both out of breath and smiling widely as Puss begins to trail a path of kisses from Kitty's head down the side of her neck.

"Puss, what has come over you, mi amor?" Kitty breathlessly whispers, carding her soft paws through Puss' ginger fur, smiling at the purr that escapes her lover's lips.

"Oh, Kitty. Kitty, mi media naranja, I have just missed getting to spend one-on-one time with you these past weeks with all of our travels and missions in which we were accompanied by guards or spied on by bandits," Puss admits, his emerald eyes positively glowing in the light of the moon streaming through the window.

"What? Was that the nickname from earlier?"

"Sí. It was."

"Say it again, Puss! I rather like that phrase, especially when you purr it like that!" Kitty pouts, her bottom lip poked out as she pushes Puss in Boots backwards against a pillow.

"Mi media naranja, Kitty, te amo con todo mi corazón, mi reina," Puss whispers in her ear, and Kitty nearly feels herself getting dizzy at the romance contained in just those simple words with Puss' deep, tantalizingly sexy voice.

"My soulmate or other half. That is the metaphor you should have used in front of Pajuna," Kitty smirks at Puss, feeling a purr building in her own throat as Puss continues to hold her in his arms and kiss her face.

"But, it is better to share it in secret with you, Mrs. Kitty in Boots."

It is at that moment that Kitty realizes she can no longer hold secrets from her husband any more, regardless of the fact that his birthday is still a few days away.

"All right, Puss, you win!" Kitty breathlessly sighs, lying down next to the ginger tabby, their chests pressed together as she entwines their paws. "I'll tell you the secret I was saving for your birthday."
"And what is this surprise, Kitty? After all, I knew I would be able to woo you enough to where you would tell me."

"So vain, Ginger."

They lie together in the bed, arms wrapped around one another, foreheads pressed together, and all the care in the world disappearing from them.

"Puss, I have a question for you first before I tell you your surprise," Kitty makes known to her husband, and the excitement on Puss' face is almost too much to bear.

"Anything for you, Kitty. Ask away, mi reina," Puss smiles, just happy to be able to spend his life beside this incredible woman.

"Does swordsmanship run through the Puss in Boots bloodline?" Kitty innocently inquires, her blue eyes widening as Puss strokes her arm with his paw.

"Kitty, I am an orphan. I do not know if anyone in the Boots family was good at swordsmanship," the ginger gato begins to explain, fully prepared to go into his own thoughts surrounding his mysterious past, but then a particularly alarming thought permeates his brain. "How can I have a bloodline, unless…" Puss pauses and looks at Kitty, seeking some sort of affirmation or denial.

Kitty smiles softly. "Unless we have kittens."

Puss in Boots lies rooted to the spot on the bed, unable to move. Kitty lies in Puss' arms, feeling his breathing become ragged and short as Puss processes the information being given to him. Shooting up in the bed, Puss pulls Kitty up with him to where they are now both sitting upright against the headboard.

"I am going to be a Papa?" Puss smiles widely, a small tear appearing in his eye as he tries to process every emotion coursing through his body from pride to joy to shock to even devotion for the tuxedo she-cat in front of him.

"I know you asked for a guitar. I thought you might like knowing this news even better than getting a new instrument," Kitty shyly smiles, and soon, Puss has scooped her up in his arms, standing on the mattress before he squeezes her in one of the tightest, most heartfelt hugs that Kitty has ever been a part of.

"Of course I do, mi media naranja! I am going to be a Papa!" Puss boasts, his voice practically a shout as he continues squeezing Kitty in a hug before he presses a passionate kiss to her lips, making Kitty gasp slightly. "I do not need a new guitar when I am getting a gift so much more precious than any instrument in the world," he whispers, dropping down to his knees, staring up at the beautiful she-cat in front of him, feeling for all the world like she is an angel that has come down to Earth to personally bless him. "May I?" the ginger tabby whispers once more, and Kitty gives him an affirming nod.

Double checking to make sure his claws are sheathed, Puss slowly reaches his right paw forward and gently splays it on Kitty's stomach, grinning widely as he looks up at her.

"Hola, mis gatitos," he whispers, and Kitty begins to burst out laughing. "And what, may I ask, is so funny, hmm?" Puss inquires in a totally serious voice.

"The great Puss in Boots is becoming so soft. Oh, Ginger, I'm making you soft!" Kitty laughs, joining his paw on her stomach by placing her own black and white paw on her still relatively flat stomach.

"I am not soft! I am still a fearless hero in battle who is not afraid of anything!" Puss reminds, his voice rising in volume as he decrees such. "However, I must admit that I am very much in love with you, Señora Kitty in Boots. I thought I loved you as much as anyone could ever love, but I was wrong. I love you now more than I ever imagined possible, Kitty. You are having my child or children, and I cannot be happier! I am the luckiest gato in all of Spain!" he decrees, the same bravado and pure love present in his voice. "No, the world!" the ginger gato amends, and Kitty cannot help but chuckle as she places a kiss to the top of his head.

"I am glad you are so happy, Ginger. I really did want to wait until your birthday, but…"

"Oh, Kitty, mi amor, I am so glad you told me early! How long have you known?"

"Only about a week or so, Puss," Kitty reveals with a smile. "I really wanted to wait, and I did get you a new guitar before I found out, but it is back home in San Ricardo. However, I realized the fact that by the time your birthday rolled around that I would already be starting to show a little."

"And how long do we have before our precious gatitos bless us with their presence, hmm?" Puss inquires, wondering what kind of timeframe they are working with.

"About two months or so, Ginger. Kittens usually are born after nine weeks or so, but it could be more, or it could be less depending on the circumstances," Kitty answers back, looking down at Puss as he moves his hand around Kitty's stomach as if trying to find where a kitten may be situated. "Ginger, they won't start to kick for a few weeks at least. And I'm sure any kittens we do have are too small for you to feel right now," she laughs, a large smile on her lips.

"Two months? Oh, well, then we have a little time," Puss remarks, pressing his lips to Kitty's stomach, giving it a delicate, sweet kiss, and Kitty cannot help but giggle as his whiskers tickle the sensitive fur on her belly. "¡Excelente! We can spend that time doing something very important…" Puss begins to say, before Kitty cuts him off.

"Renovating the house…"

"Making more money by saving the world!"

Kitty stares down at Puss, and he stares up at her with the same confused look on her face.

"What did I say?" he inquires, a confused look on his face.

"Puss, we already have plenty of money to last us at least close to two years with what the King and Queen promised us!" Kitty reminds, knowing that Puss is very drawn to continue his heroics, but she honestly wishes that he would give the idea of saving the world a rest until their kittens are born.

"I know, I know, I know. But, that is money for the two of us, mi amor! We do not know how many kittens we are going to have, and it is frankly a bit frightening to think that we may need to start doing more jobs just to pay for all of their necessities!" Puss begins to freak out, not yelling in any way, but Kitty can clearly tell that this is bothering Puss deeply.

Kneeling down to be level with Puss, Kitty wraps her arms behind Puss' neck, pulling him closer to her chest. Puss' head rests against Kitty's chest, and as Kitty rubs his head, he starts to breathe in and out, trying his best not to get overwhelmingly emotional.

"I am so sorry, Kitty. I do not mean to burden you, mi reina," Puss sniffs, looking up at Kitty with concern in his deep emerald eyes, and Kitty truly feels her heart nearly break in half.

"Puss, do not believe that you will ever burden me! Anything that concerns you is something that you need to address to me where we can work this out," Kitty assures her husband, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead and entwining their paws together as she presses their foreheads together. "Whether you realize it or not, since you are the father of these kittens, you get an equal say in how we are going to raise our gatitos and anything that concerns you about their well-being. You only have to tell me when something is bothering you, mi rey. Puss, I want you to know you can tell me anything that bothers you," she softly explains, and Puss feels all the worry in his heart and soul start to disappear.

"Gracias, mi corazón. I really am going to try and express myself better to you other than my love for you. I will tell you everything I am feeling," Puss vows, and then he captures Kitty's lips in his own, and both gatos begin purring as they embrace one another and deepen the kiss between one another, strengthening both their bond and their declaration of love.

When they pull apart, Kitty realizes she never apologized to Puss for her anger earlier.

"I am so sorry I yelled at you about being lost, Puss. It seems my hormones and the stress of keeping the secret of the kittens to myself really took a toll on me."

"No need to apologize, Kitty. In fact, I can completely forget the moment happened, because I am too overjoyed at the idea of us having kittens."

With that, Puss and Kitty lie down in the bed, Kitty resting her back against Puss' chest as he wraps his arms around her waist, laying a paw protectively on his wife's stomach, cradling and shielding his unborn kittens from the outside world.

Over the next few days, Kitty and Puss have been traveling around Spain and then make one stop in Italy in order to pursue some Spanish criminals who have taken up a secret residence in Italy. (Pajuna has elected to meet them in San Ricardo in about three weeks, if only to get a more stable income and reconnect with her old friend at the cantina in town.) Though it may seem like Italy is quite a long way from Spain, the journey is only about eighteen to twenty hours with a type of transportation other than a horse, which Puss and Kitty eagerly take, if only to get back to San Ricardo sooner. Along the way, they have stopped rings of bandits and murderers, and brought all of them to justice to the King and Queen of Spain. On their adventure in Italy, however, is where the stress of being on the road for nearly two weeks without seeing their home and needing some time to not fight bandits has begun to take its toll on the married couple.

"But it is impossible! We will never get in. The castle is guarded. There is a moat and everything!" Puss in Boots whisper shouts at Kitty, not sure what on Earth has gotten Kitty so mixed up in the cabeza tonight.

"They have twenty-five, thirty guards at most. Nothing we cannot overcome," Kitty assures, starting to creep forward towards the castle they are casing in which the bandits are planning on looting the castle before them.

However, on a negative note, the guards at the castle still believe Kitty and Puss to be wanted criminals, as Puss in Boots is definitely still wanted in Italy, and Kitty is sure that her father has not helped the matter at all. If anything, Diego possibly enforced the assumption that Puss in Boots is a hardened criminal who is beyond redemption. Pushing that thought into the back of her mind, Kitty continues to head towards the entrance to the castle, only to be grabbed by the wrist by Puss.

"What, Ginger?" Kitty hisses out, not sure why Puss is pulling her back as a place like this.

"We will never get away with this," Puss hisses back, a rather distressed tone in his voice.

"Yes, we will," Kitty assures, looking her lover in the eye and trying her best to assuage his thoughts that her carefully constructed plan would come to fruition. "You just have to trust that this plan will work like all the others I have done for the last missions."

"And I do, Kitty! But, I have to be honest here, mi amor," Puss trails off, and Kitty knows that it is never a good sign when Puss does not complete his thought.

"But?"

"I do not think you should put yourself in the heat of battle, considering the fact that you are pregnant, Kitty."

Kitty's mouth drops open, and she makes a somewhat confused sound while staring at her lover, her sapphire eyes narrowing out of anger.

"You did not just say that."

"I did, Kitty. Look, we do not have just ourselves to look out for any more. We have to think of what is best for our kittens, and, honestly, I do not think having you fight both bandits and guards is safe for you or the kittens," Puss continues to explain his thoughts behind the matter.

"You are so not telling me how to be responsible, Mr. Frisky Two-Times! You are not!" Kitty yells, almost not able to restrain herself from smacking Puss in the face. "Because, out of the both of us, who really knows what is best for these kittens? Me, Puss! They are in my body right now, taking almost all of my nutrients; they'll soon start to make my body go through some irreversible changes, and I am the one who has to bring them into this world! And just because I am pregnant does not mean I am made of glass; you don't have to worry about me hurting myself!" she shouts, absolutely furious with her husband, knowing that he has a rather fiery temper, but he has never unleashed it on her, nor has she unleashed her own temper on Puss.

"And you think I am just supposed to sit back and do nothing? Kitty, I just want to say that I love you and our kittens so much, and I do not want to see you get hurt! You are turning nothing into something so out of proportion that I do not even know what to do about our plan where we were meant to attract the guards by being romantic in front of them!"

"Well, then, if that's how you feel, Ginger, then maybe we should just split up for today's mission, and if you can't figure out a decent apology by the end, then don't even bother coming back to our hotel room tonight!"

"Fine, then!"

"Fine!"

With a final glance back at one another, Puss and Kitty split off into separate ways, each getting into position to try and set up the heist against the bandits in the castle.

Apparently, the universe seems to know whenever Puss and Kitty are fighting, because when their natural balance and romance is disrupted, nothing seems to go right on a mission. Through no means of their own, Puss and Kitty end up in the same room, trying to steal back the jars of magic potions that the inhabitants of the Italian castle had stolen from the court physician. Truly, there was a whole circle of thieving going around in Italy, but Puss doesn't have the heart to make the joke right now, since the fight with Kitty still weighs on his mind and Diego, Kitty's father, was originally from Italy.

"Is this the best plan you could come up with?" Kitty whispers to Puss as they climb the stair railings up to the shelves on the top floor of the alchemy lab.

"I do believe that you are the one who came up with this plan," Puss reminds, a slight bit of anger still in his voice as he leaps onto the top of the stair railing, preparing to launch himself towards the wooden shelves since someone had removed the ladder before the two gatos came in.

"Puss, I think you're going to have to reach the potions. I can't jump that far and sink into the wood without claws. You can," Kitty softly says with a bit of admiration in her voice while watching her husband bunch the muscles in his legs, preparing to climb the shelves. "Is that all right with you?'"

"No problema. In one of my nine lives, I was the great cat burglar of Santiago de Compostela!" Puss proudly remarks, his voice raising in volume, and Kitty soon starts to make shushing noises upon hearing boots outside the door to the lab.

"Cool it. You're going to get us both killed," Kitty reminds, pointing to the door and wanting Puss to realize that either a guard or bandit is pacing back and forth in front of the only entrance to the alchemy lab.

"Lo siento. Now, keep your head up and your arms out! I am going to start tossing you the potions!" Puss tells her in response, beginning to toss the magic potions down to his lover, a look of admiration on his face as she catches each one with such grace that he instantly forgets all about how furious he had been with her earlier.

About ten minutes pass as Puss continues to throw potions down to Kitty who puts them in a large bag, but then the unthinkable happens. A swarm of bandits enters the lab, and panic can be seen on Kitty's face as she looks between the bandits and Puss dangling precariously from the wooden shelf as he attempts to grasp the last potion that is said to cure all ills.

"Uno más, Kitty!" Puss calls down in a whisper, knowing that Kitty said there were bandits outside the room.

The ginger gato has not yet noticed that they have entered the room downstairs.

"That'll have to do. We've got company!" Kitty calls upwards to her husband, and Puss nearly drops the vile that contains the potion before he begins to scramble back to Kitty.

The two lovers end up running for their lives, the bag of potions flung over Puss' arm as he rushes behind Kitty, making sure to keep all of the bandits behind them from ever reaching them. Kicking their horse into a gallop, Kitty holds the reins, looking back at Puss with a soft smile, simply glad that her husband did not meet a cruel fate trying to balance on the shelves made of flimsy wood and located so very high in the air.

Reaching the hotel room, Kitty practically collapses on the bed, her blue eyes drooping and her body feeling as if all energy has left her. Puss, unsure of the situation simply unclips his belt, sitting it on the end table, followed by his hat. As he sits down on the corner of the bed, Puss casts a glance in Kitty's direction, seeing if she is annoyed or irritated by him before he deems it safe to take his boots off and place them at the foot of the bed.

"Kitty, I am so deeply sorry, mi amor," Puss begins to speak, not daring to invade Kitty's personal space right now after the argument they had outside the castle. "I should never have said those cruel things to you. It is just… I have never had the privilege of being a husband or a Papa before, and I do not know how I would handle losing just you, Kitty. I cannot imagine for the life of me losing not only you, but our kittens as well. Was I too protective over you? Yes. Yes, I must admit I was," he continues, eyes filling with emotion, and his voice become thicker as he finds it hard to swallow since he is nearly on the verge of tears, something he would never admit.

Oh, sweet Felina, hear my pleas and help Kitty forgive me!

"Go ahead, Ginger. Say it," Kitty speaks up, even as she lies with her back facing Puss.

"What?" Puss inquires, not at all sure what his lover could mean since he has said all that has come to mind.

"I told you so," she reminds, thinking back to earlier when they were having an argument that was as heated as the summer sun. "Go on," the tuxedo she-cat prompts, preparing herself to hear the words that she has used on Puss when she is teasing him about being right.

"Never," Puss swears, vowing then and there that he will never get into a heated argument with Kitty ever again, especially over the matter of raising and protecting their kittens. "Kitty, I always will trust your judgement when it comes to our kittens, and I apologize for saying that you were not thinking of what was best for our kittens. Can you ever forgive me, mi amor y mi reina?" he sweetly asks, fixing his lips in a pout and doing the eye trick that always make anyone fall in love with Puss in Boots.

"Oh, Puss, of course I can. And I am sorry, too," Kitty admits, sitting up and wrapping her arms around Puss in a comforting hug. "I am sorry that I told you to express your opinion on how to raise our kittens, and then when you offered your opinion to me, I immediately started to yell at you. That was not fair of me, nor was it a moment that I am proud of. I think the pregnancy mood swings are already getting to me," she laughs softly, and Puss cannot help but chuckle warmly at his lover and wife, his chest shaking against Kitty's as she remains in his arms. "Your kittens make me very moody it seems, Puss in Boots."

"Well, with both of our tempers and strong personalities, that is not really much of a surprise, I must admit," Puss jokes, and Kitty softly pushes him backwards on the bed before curling up next to him, letting Puss rest his hand against her stomach which will soon start to grow bigger and rounder as the kittens grow. "Tonight, we sleep in Italy. Tomorrow, we will go back to Spain," Puss suggests as a plan, knowing that Kitty misses San Ricardo and their home just as much as he does.

"No, it will take us more than one day to get back," Kitty reminds, thinking that it took them longer by horse to get around Spain, especially since their other means of transportation lets them off closer to towns other than San Ricardo. "But, I must say that I am extremely happy to get back home where we can be back with plenty of time to prepare the house for our future little ones."

"I am as well, Kitty. I do not think we will make it to England now," the ginger gato jokes, thinking of how he and Kitty had planned on going and receiving money from the people of England for doing good deeds for the monarchy like they are currently completing in España.

"It wasn't on the schedule anyhow," his lover teases back, pressing her lips to Puss' and enjoying the soft, pleasant kiss they exchange before going to sleep. "You know, I always thought I was the one who rescued you from the San Ricardo Prison," Kitty whispers into the darkness, stroking one of her soft paws across Puss' wrist and then trailing up his arm.

"You did," Puss reminds, a hint of amusement and confusion present in his voice, not sure where Kitty is going with this.

"No. You rescued me," the tuxedo she-cat assures, cuddling up next to her husband, feeling perfectly content and safe in his strong, loving arms. "You saved me from darkness and brought me to a stage of my life where I am loved and going to be a mother. And for that, Puss in Boots, I can never thank you enough."

Author's Note: And there it is! The much awaited (fifteen months later than Rival Argentica hoped) Chapter 12 of Love Is Worth More Than Gold! I sincerely think it was worth the wait, and I am extremely proud of how this chapter came out! I think it may be one of my favorite ones yet, but, of course, you all get to be the judges of that. Rival Argentica, I cannot thank you enough for your continued support and your kind words you always bestow upon me, amiga, and I hope that this chapter has lived up to your expectations for the chapter! I will try to update when I get the chance, but I start college for the first time on Monday, and I don't know how much time I'll get between college and my job. Thank you so very much for your continued support, dear Rival Argentica, and all of my other dear readers! Until the next time; have an amazing day, afternoon, or night!

P.S. Rival Argentica, did you find the scene that made it move to a T rating? Do you happen to recognize one of the scenes? :3 Also, this was a 14,911 words chapter of 51 document pages on my computer. I hope that makes up for the excruciatingly long wait!