A Day in the Life: Jake Clawson
Jake's 28th Birthday
By James L. King
FreakaZ@Aol.com

Authors note/summary: Part one of a two part(maybe more, if I decide to/get
pestered for Callie's and Felina's PoVs) story, this one told from Jake's PoV.
It is total fluff; it shows a 'normal' day, which happens to be his birthday.
Surprisingly, the SWAT Kats aren't needed for some crisis or another.

Legal Dogma:
Usual crap,
SWAT Kats, MegaKat City, etc. are owned/copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera.
Lieutenant (Maj.)Micheal Thomas 'Diablo' Barnes is from my unpublished SF
series.

Friday, June 9th, 1995

I wake up to my alarm clock going off.  I quickly silence the thing and get up. 
I'm not looking forward to today, even though I'm twenty-eight now.  I grab some
clean clothes and head to the bathroom.  I'm glad I don't have to trim my
whiskers like Chance does.  I've seen him walk off-kilter when he doesn't trim
them.  I brush my teeth and take a shower, then towel off.  I hear Chance's
alarm clock and its subsequent hitting of the wall and breaking.  

'Chance, buddy, I'm gonna have to make you a shatter-proof alarm clock,' I mutter 
as I quickly brush my fur, then get dressed.

I walk into his room; he has his pillow over his head. I tap his shoulder and he
swings at me as he sits up, 

'It's six-oh-nine, buddy.  Rise and shine,' I say as I step back. 

He mutters "Morning Kats," and I start laughing.   He tells me, "I'll be down in
a few, lemme shower first." 

I nod and leave.  I walk to my usual spot and leap over the railing and land softly 
on the floor below.  I hear him head to the bathroom as I start working on breakfast.  
I know my cooking isn't the best, but I try.  I grab eggs, a can of tuna, some 
anchovies, and about twelve hot peppers.  I set the whole mess to cook while I put on 
the coffee and set the table.

'Breakfast's on, buddy,' I tell him when he comes down.

Chance asks me, "What is it, and where's the coffee?"

'Over there, Chance,'  I reply and turn off the stove,  'It's an omelet - you
know, eggs, Mongo peppers, some anchovies, and a can of tuna.'

"Yummy, how many peppers?"  

He looks dead; maybe I should tease him.

'Enough to gag anyone but us.' I dish out the eggs and hum a tune that caught
my ear earlier.

"Oh, twenty-three apiece then?"  He's not even smiling. I'm gonna have to tease
him.

'Chow down.'  I sit down at the table. 'Did you and 'Lina *do* something last
night?' I say, half a grin on my face.

"No." He still looks dead.

I start grinning mischievously,  'Aww, c'mon, you two must have, if you're
*that* tired.'

"Do you want me to force every hot pepper in the house down your throat?" I hear
the anger in his voice.

'There we go, now you're awake,' I say, still grinning. 'We got a heck of a
backlog to work through, and who knows what else will come in today. We're gonna
have to work separately today, unless we need to rebuild an engine or anything
like that.'

He grunts and glares at me over the rim of his coffee mug,  "You're in a real
good mood.  Did *you* do anything with Callie last night?"  He starts smiling.

'Yeah, we went to FisherKat's wharf, where we saw you two, then we watched
'Grumpier Old Toms.' After that, we walked around MegaKat Central Park a bit,' I
say, not playing the game with him.

"Ooh, bet ya did more than just *walk*, eh, sureshot?"  He starts grinning like
T-Bone.  "How was your aim?"

'Funny, Chance.' I'm still smiling.  

He looks smug as he says, "Happy birthday.  So, do I give you twenty-eight
smacks, then one to grow an inch, or ya gonna let Callie do it?"

I shoot him a dirty look, 'That's not funny at all, Chance.'

He walks out, still wearing that smug smile.  I finish my eggs and coffee, then
walk out to the garage.  I start working on a car that needs a full tune-up,
while he finishes changing the oil in the one he's been working on.  The phone
rings, and he gets it.  He has a short conversation, then informs me he has to
tow someone.  He gets the towtruck keys and drives off.

Almost half an hour later, I see him with Mr. Johnson's car.  I'm glad he's
working on it.  I have no patience with that Tom; he refuses to let us fix the
thing properly.  He's spent just as much money having us work around the problem
as he would have letting us fix it properly.  Chance finishes patching around
the problem and tells Mr. Johnson that he needs to get it repaired, not
temporarily fixed.  Mr. Johnson gives Chance a dirty look as he pays him, then
races off.  Chance looks really mad as he rings in the cash.

He glances at the clock and tells me that he'll be back at one, after he gets
me a birthday present.  I can only guess what surprise he has next.  I finish up
with this car and call its owner.  I pull the next clunker in and look at it. 
It needs a new radiator; this one is a maze of pinholes and solder and most of
the hoses are shot.  I check the kind of radiator and am in luck.  I know I have
an extra somewhere in the yard.  I poke through our stockpile and find it. It
has a few bent fins, but it holds water.  I straighten the fins out and install
it. I also replace all the hoses and the thermostat.  I fill the coolant system
of that car with fresh antifreeze and water and run it.  It holds the water
fine, and the heat gauge doesn't even flicker past 195 when hot.  I call its
owner and pull it to the pickup area.

Chance gets back with a gift-wrapped box and a new alarm clock.  He paws the
gift wrapped box to me, and I can only guess at what it is.  I open it and find
a ton of small electronic components.  I can use them, but it disappoints me.

'Chance, you really shouldn't have,' I say in a sarcastic a voice as possible.

He laughs at me and says, "You really think that's your present?" I see Callie
getting out of her car and walking over.  "There's your present."  He points to
Callie.

She walks up, and Chance says to her, "Callie, he's twenty-eight now, care to
give him his spanking?  I'll hold him down for ya."

No the heck you don't, Chance Eugene Furlong.  

'Uh, oh,' I say, taking a step back.

Callie gets a not-so-pleasant grin on her face as she says, "Sure, Chance."

Before I can move, Chance pounces on me and holds me. 

'Chance!' I shout, wriggling furiously.  

Callie walks up and kisses me like she's never kissed me before.  Chance lets go 
and laughs his head off.  

When she's done kissing me, she says in a very sultry, seductive voice, "Happy 
birthday, Jake."

I walk up to Chance and punch him in the shoulder.  'Chance, that was not
funny.'

"Yes, it is.  That was almost as good as Scaredy-Kat!" He's laughing almost like
a hyena now.

'Callie, would you care to stay for lunch?' I ask her.

"No. Sorry, Jake. I still have a backlog of paperwork to get through and a
speech to write for 'His Honor'.  I'll be back later though - Chance promised a
good dinner."

Chance says "I'll be right back, I forgot to get the steaks for dinner," and
rushes off.  

I see Callie is kind of upset and ask her why. She says she'll tell me later. 
Callie kisses me again and goes back to work.  

I shrug and get back to work myself, and start changing the oil in a car.  Burke and 
Murray show up and dump their junk in the way of the customer just as he starts to 
back out.  I've never seen them apologize before, or clean up the stuff they dumped.  
That was probably one of the best moments that day, a true birthday memory.

Chance gets back and goes into the kitchen for half an hour.  He comes back out
and starts working on a car in the backlog. I get a couple more drive-ins and
manage to get them both done.  He finishes with the car he's working on and
closes shop.  He disappears into the kitchen and good smells start emanating
from within.  

I finish up on a few minor things with the one car in the backlog, then head upstairs 
to shower and change.  

He gets everything set up, then hollers, "Hey, Jake, supper's ready!" 

Callie walks in, and Chance has poured wine for the both of us.  He goes upstairs and I 
hear him wash up.  He walks down, looking uncomfortable in his suit and tie.

"I'll get the dishes when I get back, Jake,"  he says before he leaves.  

I start our meal by seating Callie.  I serve her a steak and some vegetables.  
I notice he hasn't cooked many, and I oblige him by eating some.  I try the 
steak, and I don't know who taught him how to cook like that, but I love them.

"Jake, this is very good - do you know what the recipe is?" she asks me.

'Well, it's Chance's recipe, and it's birthday tradition in his family to make
these steaks, or so he says,' I reply.

We finish off the veggies and try the mashed potatoes and gravy.  He must have
cooked the leftover steak marinade into a gravy because now the potatoes taste
like the steak.

'How was work today? Did you get the paperwork finished?' I ask her.

"Yes, I did, but the speech will have to wait until Monday." she frowns
slightly.

'What else happened?  You gonna finally tell me what put ya in a bad mood?' I
ask, seeing her frowning.

"I got caught in the middle of a near fight between Lieutenant Feral and Major
Steele."

'That's not good.'

"To top it off, when I was talking to her a few minutes later, this Enforcer Tom
tried to hit on the both of us at the same time."

'Hmm, anyone I know?'

"What did his nametag say, what did it...  I think his name was Barnes - he had the
rank of Lieutenant."

'I hope it's not the same Barnes that was Chance's partner before I was.
Chance'll probably kill him and eat him for breakfast if he finds out about
Felina getting hit on,' I say with a slight smile.

"Why would Chance be like that toward him?"

'Well, Barnes tried to blame Chance for something that he did, and, if Commander
Feral hadn't been there, he probably would have killed Barnes then.'

"What happened?"

'What I was told by Commander Feral when I transferred was that they were on a
double date, and, when they found out that they were underage, Chance said
goodbye and went back to HQ while Barnes slept with both the She-Kats.  He got
one pregnant.'

"I remember reading about that in the paper."

'When it came out that an Enforcer pilot had gotten the underage She-Kat
pregnant, Barnes tried to blame it on Chance and said that he got her
pregnant.  However, the She-Kat and her parents confronted Barnes, and the truth
came out.  Commander Feral was there, and if he hadn't been, Barnes would
probably ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of MegaKat General Hospital, or the
morgue."

"Sound like he belongs in prison."

'Barnes agreed to pay kitten support and accept a demotion and a transfer in 
exchange for not going to prison.  He was transferred to Katscratch, while I was
transferred to MegaKat at the same time.'

"Well, this Barnes was a real jerk, and he got me mad."

'If he hits on you, tell him that you're dating Chance Furlong's partner, and
that I will, if he hits on you again that is, 'Rip his tail off and string him
up with it'.'

"I'll do that."  She smiles.

We finish with eating, and I put the food away and clear the table.  We rent a
movie and spend most of the time necking on the couch instead of watching it. 
The movie gets done, and we watch the news and see what little had happened, as
the SWAT Kats didn't have to appear for anything today, thank the Holy Kats. 
Litterbin comes on, and I notice that she fell asleep part way through.  I pull
her close and start stroking her hair.  The last thing I remember that night
was holding her as she started purring and gently kissing her on her cheek.