Bombalurina woke up to the sounds of early birds chirping and the comforting arm of her mate around her waist. She purred and snuggled into him. It was too early to get up. Usually her body didn't wake her up until noon, but the past week she had been getting up earlier and earlier with stomach cramps. Luckily, there were none this morning.

She heard Tugger snoring softly beside her and smiled to herself. He was so peaceful when he slept. His guard was down, and he wasn't trying to be a show off. It's not that she thought his showy attitude was bad, she actually liked it. But seeing him like this...

She nuzzled his furry chest affectionately, but was careful not to wake him. She closed her eyes, trying her best to fall back asleep. But something didn't feel right. She shifted a little bit in the bed, then regretted it instantly. Her whole body was overcome with nausea. She quickly sat up and bolted towards the bathroom, covering her mouth with her paw and jolting Tugger awake.

She had barely made it through the doorway before she erupted. Last night's dinner was everywhere, and it left Bombalurina shaking, but she felt better.

"Babe!" Tugger exclaimed worriedly, now standing behind her. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Bombalurina nodded her head weakly, and clutched her stomach.

"Do you need to go see Jenny?" He asked, feeling her forehead for a fever.

"I'm alright now... I have to clean this up..."

"No way, Bombs. You look awful."

Bombalurina shot him a dirty look, and he winced.

"I mean, you always look gorgeous, I meant that you looked sick, that's all. I think you need to see Jenny."

"Tugger, I'm fine. I feel much better."

"Do I have to take you down there myself?" Tugger growled. Bombalurina sighed. She knew her mate wouldn't take no for an answer once he made up his mind on something. Very much like herself.

"Fine." She grumbled, and headed towards the door.

"Good. I'm gonna clean this stuff up and meet you down there in a little while."

"If you must." She said, waving good bye before heading out the door.

Meanwhile, things were not so pleasurable between a different pair of mates. Mistoffelees had tried to appease his mate that morning and had done everything to the letter. Some way or another, however, he irritated her or she corrected the way he did something. It was quickly wearing on his nerves. Where had his considerate and compassionate mate gone? She had turned into a growling, grumpy and incredibly hostile rage monster. He was very worried about her health by this point. He also wanted to take a nap, but he would defer that lest she call him a "lazy bum" again.

"I honestly don't know what you are so aggravated over," he sighed, massaging his temples as he stood directly across from her, "All I did was place the fork where the spoon should be and vice-versa. I don't see how it actually matters,"

"You don't see how it matters? You don't see how it matters? I'm you're mate, Misto! If it matters to me it's supposed to matter to you! How difficult is it to remember which utensil goes on the left?" Victoria wailed. He could never do anything right lately. It was exhausting her. "I've had a head ache since I woke up, and all you can do is complain about how switching the utensils is too much work!"

"It's just a place setting!" he exclaimed, raking his claws through his headfur as his voice rose to a very forlorn pitch, "And, I've had a headache, too! You whined and fussed and carried on all through the night, that I couldn't avoid acquiring one! Do you have to harp on me so much? Does everything I do have to irritate you to such an extremity? Can't you give me a little mercy, a little grace? I'm your mate too, you know!"

This state of affairs was beginning to wear heavily upon him. All he could think of doing was getting away for an hour or two and getting some much needed rest or at least some much needed peace and solitude. He never enjoyed feeling as though he was a failure, but his mate seemed bent on making him feel so.

Victoria hissed at him.

"Yeah, well, I keep waking up with these awful cramps all night long! It would be nice if I could get a bit of sympathy!"

He groaned audibly, covered his face with both paws and sank into a nearby chair. All he wanted to do was get back to the mateship he had cherished so much. One where they honored and respected the other's feelings. Instead, she was ripping him to shreds. He wasn't going to say anything, though. He was the tom and he would keep it all together. Besides, she would only disprove him all over again.

"I gave you sympathy," he moaned through his paws and raised his head up to address her, "I wrapped my arms about you, but you hissed and winced. Then, I tried to kiss you and pet you, but you said you didn't want to be 'like that' last night. And then, I tried to nuzzle you and you nearly clawed my face off!"

"Yeah, well, excuse me for not wanted to cuddle when I feel like my insides are being dug into by a knife!"

"You could have said that!" he pointed out, becoming rather irritable himself, "Instead, you were hissing and raising such a fuss that you probably woke the entire yard! You weren't giving me any communication at all! One moment, you beg for my affection and the very next, you are hissing, growling and telling me I'm not good enough. What is going on with you?!"

"I wish I knew! You don't think I want to stop these cramps and headaches? I've been waiting since two days to go see Jenny, but I've had too much on my plate to go, thanks to you."

"Go and see her then!" he hissed with such venom he was surprised he was speaking to his mate, "Please, don't let me get in the way, your royal majesty! If your highness wished to go, she should have ordered me to step aside! Had you ordered, I would have bowed down before you and let you leave with dignity!"

"Ugh! Fine then. See if you can handle yourself for the next half hour without my help for once." She hissed before exiting the den, still fuming. The nerve of that Tom!

The Rum Tum Tugger, who had just left his own den to check up on his mate spotted the angry Victoria. Intrigued, he made his way over to her.

"Hey there, sweet cheeks. What's up?" He asked.

"Like you'd actually care to know?" she snapped, skirting around him rather haughtily, "Whatever is up does not concern you! Or any tom for that matter!"

Tugger furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at his ex-fanclub member. "Okay you've clearly gone off the deep end. Is it trouble in paradise?"

She laughed mirthlessly and continued on her way to the Medical Den.

"If living with Mistoffelees is paradise I'm a Pollicle," she huffed angrily, "He can't just do anything simply! I bet he's trying to irritate me on purpose! All I ask for is a little sympathy and compassion and he can't even do that!"

"Well, he is pretty bad with Queens. I remember once when he had this huge crush on Bomba, oh man. He just went on and on and on about how he was going to be mates with her one day... And whenever he talked to her he would get all stuttery and stuff." Tugger scoffed at the memory.

A fire burned within the white queens eyes as she received this news. Mistoffelees had never revealed any such secret to her. They had talked of previous crushes before and this particular bit of news had never come up in conversation. How dare he keep that from her? He had lied to her! Her perfectly trustworthy and reputable tom had lied to her! What a selfish fiend! How could he abuse her trust so odiously?!

"Is that so, Tugger?" she asked through incredibly clenched teeth, "Is that common knowledge with him? That he once loved Bomba?"

"Oh yeah. What, you mean you didn't know? I thought everyone knew. It was pretty obvious." Tugger shrugged.

Victoria's eyes became a very cold blue and they quickly turned into slits. She glared at Tugger for a moment, entirely enraged and far too much so in order to give him a reply. She merely turned on her heels and quickly walked off to Jenny's den.

Low and behold, she found one of the last creatures she wanted to encounter at that time sitting casually and waiting. Victoria glared at Bombalurina, secretively very hurt that Misto hadn't entrusted her with the information of his adoration for Bomba. She felt used and mistreated. She wouldn't let those feelings rise to the surface, however.

She sat ever so slowly and deliberately in a chair, still eyeing the queen with a very enraged look. Why had no one told her?!

Bombalurina, who had been reading "Cat Fancy," almost felt the heated glare, and turned to ace the white Queen. Oh heavyside, what on earth did she do this time?

"Hi, Victoria..." She said warily.

"Of course!" Victoria growled and rolled her eyes, "Just greet me as if there's nothing wrong! That would be the perfect Bombalurina thing to do! Steal your mates love and then act innocently as if nothing was wrong!"

Bombalurina blinked in surprise. "Wait, what? Look, I don't know what you're going on about but what ever it is please leave me out of it."

"Leave you out of it?!" Victoria angrily exclaimed, raising from her seat and stepping towards Bomba, "You're the hussy who led him along! How long was Mistoffelees in love with you, exactly? Why is it so horrid that he couldn't tell me?! What did you do to him, precisely? Don't leave me in the dark, please!"

Bombalurina stood, too, not one to take abuse lightly. "Excuse me? What did you just call me? And how is it my fault that Misto had a crush on me?"

"By your name," Victoria replied sharply, uncharacteristically unafraid of being in Bomba's face, "It is your fault! You attracted him with your whiles and your seductive ways! He didn't stand a chance!"

"Excuse me little missy, but just because you're jealous of me doesn't mean you should start a fight with me. Little girls who play with fire get their fingers burned. Now run along before you get hurt." Bombalurina hissed.

"I am not jealous of you!" Victoria laughed, "My reputation is unsoiled, thank you very much. I didn't have to have two toms in order to figure out mateship!"

Bombalurina's face twisted in rage. How dare she bring up her past mateship with Macavity!

"Yeah, well at least my mate loves me! I've heard things aren't going well with Misto lately. Is he getting tired of you already?" She said with a patronizing voice.

"Shut up!" Victoria snarled, tears welling up in her eyes that she struggled so hard to suppress, "You weren't satisfied with Tugger's so you had to go and ruin mine! He's always running off to you when he should be speaking to me! You are the one who is making everything go so unwell! It's you! You're doing it on purpose!"

With all that said, Victoria lunged at Bombalurina, unable to control her heated emotions any further and slapped her full across the face. Bomba had hit the sorest spot Victoria had: her love with her mate. Mistoffelees had seemed uncharacteristically stressed and annoyed with her. It was probably because he still loved Bomba and he couldn't have her, so he settled for her instead! How she hated that tom and how she loathed this queen! It was her fault that her mate was unsatisfied with her!

Meanwhile, Mr. Mistoffelees lay stretched out on an old and tattered spring mattress. He rolled over for what must have been the millionth time. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was going horribly wrong. He was incredibly exhausted and desperately wanted to sleep, but he simply couldn't.

He felt so guilty for what he had said to Victoria earlier. He hadn't meant to be imposing and mocking with her. He had no idea where all of those nasty comments had come from. He loved his mate uncontrollably and unconditionally. He knew he had to apologize to her and check up on her. Maybe Jenny had found what was wrong with her.

His deep brown eyes opened and he sat up with stretch. He bounded off of the mattress and headed to the medical den. Perhaps, it would be best if he took his time. Running in to worry over her would only annoy her further.

Tugger, who had gotten momentarily distracted from visiting Bombs by his fan club, noticed Misto and waved to him. He turned to Jemima, Electra, and Etcetera with a grin. "Would you ladies excuse me for a little while?"

The three kittens nodded, eager to do anything he asked, then bounded off to play in the clearing. Tugger made his way over the the tuxedo tom and gave him a hearty slap on the back. "Misto my man! How's it goin'?"

Misto winced from such a firm greeting and quickly shrugged off the pain. No matter how many times Tugger did that, he would still never be used to it.

"Not so well," he sighed, being entirely honest with Tugger, "Victoria is constantly angry with me about something. I can't make the bed correctly, I can't hold her the right way, my kisses are off and the list goes on! We had a pretty nasty fight this morning, too. I just want to know where my loving and gentle queen went!"

"Yeah, uhuh, that's real sad." Tugger said, not really paying attention as he watched a mouse run across some junk. "You know I talked to Vicky today and she did seem pretty angry. Actually, we were talking about you, I think. When you had that totally absurd crush on Bombalurina. As if you had a chance." Tugger scoffed.

Mistoffelees stared at Tugger, his eyes going wide and his mouth slowly falling open. He had failed to ever mention his former crush to Victoria. He had always found it too silly and unimportant to ever confess it to her. However, at this point it could have been entirely explosive! It probably looked like he was trying to hide something from her!

"Oh, you idiot!" Misto hissed through his teeth, "I never told her about that! Thankfully, she's in the medical den and won't run into Bomba. I would hate for that to happen!"

"Medical den? That's where I'm headed. Bombs got sick this morning and I made her go." Tugger said. Then his eyes grew wide as well. He looked at Misto in horror before taking off towards Jenny's den.

Mistoffelees was right on his heels and quickly caught up to him. He bolted into the Medical Den to find Victoria and Bomba wrestling in a cat fight upon the floor. He waded through their claws, flailing ligaments and hisses and quickly extracted his mate.

"What in Heaviside's name are you two doing?" he asked, panting slightly.

Tugger grabbed his mate from around the waste, pulling her back from Victoria.

"Babe!" He exclaimed, half worried, half astonished.

"Let go of me! I swear I will murder her!"

"Babe, come on-"

"Tugger if you know what's good for you, you'll let me go right now!"

"Babe!"

"It's not my fault, you witch!" Victoria growled.

"Excuse me!" Mistoffelees interjected, "That is no way to speak to Bomba!"

Victoria wrenched herself out of Mistoffelees arms and turned to face him. She narrowed her eyes into tiny slits and placed her paws upon her hips, arms akimbo.

"Oh? And how would you speak to her, Mr. Mistoffelees?" she growled lowly, "With sweet nothings and numerous gifts?!"

"Are you insane?" he asked, completely dumbfounded, "I don't love her, not like that!"

"You love her?" Victoria's eyes went wide and her jaw went very tight.

"Well, sure I do-"

Before Mistoffelees could finish the reassuring point he was going to make, Victoria slapped him fully across the face with an angry hiss. He stumbled back a step or two, never having been slapped in all his life and merely stared at his mate. She had never become physical with her anger. Never in a million years would he have thought she could.

"I swear, if you don't let go of me right this second-" Bombalurina started to growl, but was interrupted by the opening of the curtain that lead to Jenny's part of the den.

"Bombalurina? Congratulations! You're pregnant!" Jennyanydots exclaimed, grinning happily.

The pair stopped arguing instantly, frozen in their places in disbelief. Bombalurina slowly turned around in Tugger's arms, eyes wide.

"I'm going to be a mom?" She asked quietly.

"You bet! Isn't it wonderful?" Jenny said gleefully.

Tugger's grip tightened on his mate as he stared down at her. "And I'm going to be a daddy..." He said slowly. There was a short silence. Then-

"I'm going to be a daddy!" Tugger exclaimed, his entire face lighting up with joy as he picked Bombalurina up and spun her around, making her laugh happily.

"We're going to be parents!" Bombalurina squealed, throwing arms around Tugger's neck and pulling him in for a kiss which he eagerly returned. Bombalurina felt like she was going to burst with excitement. She was going to have kittens! Start a family! Bring new life into the world! She felt like crying and dancing and exploding all at once!

Mistoffelees couldn't help but beam at the sight of the happy couple. What a relief it must have been for Tugger to know Bombalurina was okay. In fact, she was more than okay. He had never seen them so happy in all his life. His smile faded once he looked to his mate, however. He still didn't know what was going on with her. He wasn't inclined to ask either as she glared at Bomba as angrily as he had ever seen her.

She haughtily strutted past him to Jenny, mumbling about how unfair it was that tom stealing and flirtatious queens are able to be happy while queens who are struggling with their mateship can't be.

"Jenny, I haven't been feeling well lately," she told the spotted and striped queen, suddenly becoming her normal and kind self once more, "I've been having headaches and stomach cramps something awful recently,"

Mistoffelees couldn't help but have his jaw drop wide open in astonishment. How could she be so angry at he and Bomba, but so kind and sweet to Jenny? She was supposed to be loving and adoring to him. Not every cat but him! He huffed indignantly, rolled his eyes and headed over to properly congratulate Tugger and Bomba on their newly received happiness.

"Don't forget, my dear," he called to Victoria in an offpawed manner, "You also need to add raging anger to that list of symptoms,"

Victoria growled and bared her teeth at him, but she quickly plastered a smile upon her face as he gave her attention back to Jenny.

"Can you help me, please?" she asked her softly.

"Sure, sweetheart! Come on back." Jenny said as she lead her behind the curtain.

Tugger placed Bombalurina back on the ground, connecting foreheads with her. "I hope our kitten will be as beautiful as you." He said softly.

"Or as handsome as you!" Bombalurina purred, nuzzling his neck.

"I hate to cut in on this sappy love fest," Mistoffelees cut in, a playful smirk upon his face, "But, I just wanted to congratulate the two of you! Kittens is a big step in a mateship, I think,"

"Thanks, Misto." Bombalurina grinned before she was yanked back into Tugger's arms.

"C'mon, Babe. We've got some planning to do." He purred, picking her up bridal style and carrying her out of Jenny's den with a nod to Misto in farewell.

"I hope your kittens behave better than you two!" Misto called after them with a small laugh.

He knew they probably hadn't heard him, but had had to say it all the same. He took a deep breath in and let it out as he looked about the den in increasing boredom. He decided to entertain himself by letting some lightning dance on his fingers, but that tired quickly. He then amused himself by conjuring up little things and sending them back, but there was still no sign of Victoria. He then conjured a deck of cards and began to play Solitaire. He suddenly yawned very widely and covered it with a paw. Perhaps, the minutes would fly faster if he took a little cat nap. After all, he was a cat and he wanted to nap.

He curled up in the chair he was seated upon and quickly fell asleep.

A short while later Victoria appeared from behind the curtain, eyes wide. She saw her mate asleep on the chair, and shoved his shoulder to wake up.

"Get up, Misto."

"Huh? What?" he mumbled groggily, waking up instantly from his nap and he looked up to his mate with a soft smile, "Hello, beautiful,"

He clearly wasn't entirely awake yet, even though he was sitting up and his eyes were open. Having just woken up, he didn't remember any of their fights or all of the harsh things they had said to each other. He had greeted her as he normally did after waking, but things were starting to come back to him. The fights, her violence and anger, his hurt and wounded pride, and everything else that came with that. He ducked his head down, ears folding back as he began to feel very sheepish. She wasn't going to take any of his sweet-talk and he knew it now.

Victoria narrowed her eyes at him in a glare. "I'm still mad at you."

She moved so she sat on the arm of the chair Misto was in. "But. I do have some... important information."

"I wish you wouldn't be," he sighed, fiddling with his tail in order to have something to do besides look into her angry glare, "But, do share this important information, please,"

Victoria bit her lip and looked down at the rug.

"I'm pregnant." She said softly.

"You're what?!" Mistoffelees exclaimed, raising from his chair like a bullet.

He stood back far enough to regard her for a moment. Why was she telling him this if she was so angry with him? What was he supposed to do? He was a father. A father! They hadn't even talked of having kittens yet, let alone planned for having them!

Victoria nodded with a half smile. "Yeah. We're going to have kittens. Jenny said it would be about 3."

"Oh, I feel faint," Mistoffelees commented gently, seating himself in a chair opposite from her. He took quite a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself and will himself out of actually passing out. He was too young to be a father! She was too young to be a mother! What if something went wrong?! What if he lost her?! He paused in his thinking and glanced over her. He sighed and looked away from he despondently. He had already lost her in his mind. "So," he began quietly, eyes glued upon the floor, "are going to have joint custody or are you going to single mother?"

"Well, that depends. Are you going to spill about the whole Bomba thing or not?" She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"There is nothing between Bomba and I," he replied gently, examining his claws, "It was just a crush when I was 5!"

"Are you sure? Cause the way Tugger said it..." Victoria pouted.

"Of course my love," he purred to her softly, but remained in his seat, "Tugger always has a way of exaggerating, you know,"

"Oh I know." Victoria scoffed, reminded of the many overly done "hero" stories Tugger would tell to his fan club.

"Well," She said looking up at him. "I guess... I guess I forgive you then."

"I still don't know why you were so angry," he sighed, being entirely honest as he glance up to her, "I was trying to help you the best I could, baby. I really was!"

"I know, I know. It was the hormones, I bet. Though that was pretty thick headed of you to switch the silverware like that. Honestly how hard is it to remember?" She laughed, then gave him a hug.

"You were fussing at me so much and it stressed me out so badly, I couldn't remember my own name, let alone where to put the silverware!" He laughe softly, returning the hug by scooping her up of the floor and giving her a tight squeeze, "I can't believe I'm a Daddy! After all that fighting, too!" He gently set her down and gave her a kiss on the forehead, followed by a swift lick over each ear and a very affectionate nuzzle. "I'm sorry for mocking you and saying such nasty things to you earlier," he whispered softly, "You made me feel like such a failure, I had to hurt you back. In retrospect, I should have been more understanding,"

"I'm pretty sure I was the awful one in this situation, but I accept your apology." She giggled. "Now can we please have breakfast before I keel over? Ugh, now I know why I've been so hungry all the time. I'm eating for two!"

"Come to think of it, you were. You do owe me one elaborate apology," he laughed, but quickly scooped her up bridal style just as Tugger had done, "You're eating for three or four, actually..." His voice trailed off and he looked to her stomach with an amazed and tender look. To think that all this trouble was caused by such an amazing blessing!

Victoria looked down as well, a watery smile on her lips, a tear of happiness rolling down her cheek. "Yes I am." She said, her voice filled with wonder.

Mistoffelees simply couldn't stand it any longer! He brought his lips to hers in a swift kiss and purred blissfully. They were going to be parents! Their arguments were nothing more than a few extra hormones. He thought he could deal with that. After all, there must have been an opposite to this frightening anger. Something sweeter and softer than this. He kissed her long and fully before parting from her to catch his breath. "Come on Mommy," he whispered to her, his eyes misting as he said the words. With that, he carried his sweetheart back to their den. In truth he was starving too, for his appetite hadn't been quite the same with her griping at him. He was now excited to face another day. He had his mate, her love and soon he was going to have the love of several kittens. He couldn't have been more ecstatic in all his life!