Title: Never Upset a She-kat While She’s Doing Chores for You

Author(s): Destiny Softpaw

Date:  24/1/2003
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: All characters, locations (including ‘Megakat City’) and of course the name ‘Swat Kats: the Radical Squadron’ mentioned in this fanfic are property of Hanna-Barbera except for Destiny Softpaw, and Luck Softpaw, who belong to me. Feel free to use them in your own fanfic (if you want) but please give me some credit, like in the disclaimer or something.
Summary: Jake takes the longest walk he’s taken for a while, and Chance and Dessy have a falling out.

Author's Comments/Notes: Thought I’d never get around to it! If you’re reading this, you probably suffered through parts 1 to 3. Wow, you must have stamina to keep reading my stuff. Again, this is very like the others, not too good. Ah well, enjoy!

    Chapter One:

Jake dragged his feet as he walked. It was getting late, or rather early. There was some tinge of colour in the sky.

“Nice,” he thought.

He wasn’t walking as quickly as he had been. He had settled into a pace which allowed him to walk and think without worrying about bumping into lamp posts. To be honest, he was actually quite enjoying it.

Jake was no longer walking for a purpose. He had passed the Enforcer Headquarters about an hour back, much to the bemusement of the sentries posted there, who had never seen a kat look so concerned with his inner thoughts and be out in the early hours of the morning before.

He had been thinking for most of the night. Just thinking, nothing more.

“I wonder,” he thought, “I wonder if she did turn us in. Callie knows, I’m sure, but I wonder if she told Dessy.”

He didn’t know what to think. He’d been carrying an emergency communicator for the whole time, and Chance hadn’t called to let him know about anything that had happened. All he could do was to assume everything was OK, that and get some breakfast. He saw a truck stop cafe with ‘open all night’ plastered across its window just in front of him. He was starving. Even a cheap yet disgusting sandwich from a roadside cafe was better than nothing. He went in and sat on a stool at the counter. For the first time since he’d started walking, he sat up, looked around, and thought.

“Where am I?”

He began to panic a little.

“How far out am I? You don’t get truck stops in the middle of the city. I’d better call Chance and tell him where I am.”

Chapter Two:

Since Luck and Callie had left, Chance had felt quite peaceful. He’d taken the day off. No point working after staying up most of the night.  Across the room,  Dessy was ironing some of her clothes.

“You should consider ironing some of your clothes too,” she muttered.  “They look like they need it. Jake's as well.”

Chance sat bolt upright. Jake! He’d forgotten about Jake! His best friend and he’d forgotten about him!

“Oh no, ” he said.  “Oh no, what happened to Jake last night? He hasn’t come back yet!”

“I wondered when you’d figure that out.”

“Dessy! Why didn’t you remind me!”

“He’s your friend. Besides, he’s a grown kat. He can look after himself.”

“In the middle of Megakat, at night? Are you nuts!”

“Chill out. I thought he was a SWAT Kat anyway. Surely he can look after himself....”  She swallowed, “Can’t he?”

“Is this how it's going to be now, Destiny? Now you know who we are, we’re going to be someone different to you?”  He stood up and strode over to where she was working.  “We are the same kats as before. We are no different. We are just, um, well, uh…”

“See, Chance, you know I see you differently now. But, it’s a good thing. I see you both as heroes. You can look after yourselves. Now I don’t have to worry about either of you doing everyday things ever again. Of course, now I have to worry about you taking off on missions every day, perhaps getting yourselves killed by robots or monsters.”  She began to get tearful, and her voice began to crack a little.  “Or even the authorities themselves. But, if that’s what it takes to keep our hometown safe, then you have to do as you must. But, one thing is for certain, I will never see you as the same again.”

She ran out of the room and made for the upstairs bathroom where she could lock herself in.

“Come on, Dessy, wait!”    

The door slammed shut just in front of him.

“Come on Dessy! Don’t get all upset! I’m sorry, OK? You’ve just found out something about us you weren’t expecting – heck, we weren’t expecting you to find out. I’m sorry. It must have been a shock.”

The sound of the bolt being shot back could be heard from within the bathroom. The door was opened a crack, and a single ice blue eye came into view through the slit.

“You sure you’re sorry?” she asked. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was true. It had been a shock. She was living with a hero. No, two. It’s not the kind of thing a bar worker expected to hear from a guy that hung out where she worked.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” came his reply. “I didn’t think it had affected you like this.”

“Whatever.”

“Come on, is there something I can do to make it up to you?”

Dessy’s ears perked up at this.  "Maybe…”

“Like what?”

“Think of a few ideas. I’m not going anywhere.” She closed the door again and gazed around the room. Towels. Old soap. Underwear. “I, uh, have enough to keep me busy in here for quite a while. It looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in months”

“Five.”

“What?”

“Five. Five months.”

“Euwwwww. You keep thinking. I’ll give this place a once over. I am not showering in this mess. It needs cleaning, badly.”

“Oooh, that’s one! I’ll do the bathroom if you forgive me!”

“No, Chance. Sorry, but this is something that you seem to have failed to do in the past.  I think I should do this. Pretty darn good idea though. Keep trying.”

Chance sighed, turned, and scurried away, secretly pleased at having avoided cleaning their stink hole of a bathroom.

Chapter Three:

“Ok,” thought Jake, “so, I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere, I’m exhausted, lonely, and I cant remember my own cruddy phone number, and even if I could, I don’t have any money with me.”

Jake paused for a moment. He looked around. He had that prickly, cold feeling up and down his spine. Like anything else bad could happen. It couldn’t, could it?

He was standing by the pay phones, open mouthed, in a thin cotton t-shirt, staring at his surroundings.

“Hey. Little overwhelmed by modern technology?” came a voice.

Jake whirled around, still open mouthed. He saw behind him, a short, fuzzy haired albino kat, covered with thick fuzzy white fur. Jake stared at his bright pink eyes for a moment. Pink or red? He thought. He must be tired.

The kat was part way through the washing up. He held a dish in one hand and was drying it with his other.

“You don’t look familiar. Ever been here before? In this truck stop, I mean?”

Jake managed to shake his head.                      

The kat was a little confused. This skinny, ginger-brown tom didn’t seem to be able to talk. He decided to keep trying.

You tryin’ to ring someone? Know the number?”

Jake shook his head, and closed his mouth.   “No,” he managed.

“Come on, you look hungry. Have something to eat,” said the strange kat as he ushered Jake over to a table. “You got a name?”

Chapter Four:

Chance rolled over onto his stomach and slid off the sofa onto the floor. He blinked a few times, then lifted up the piece if paper he was holding so he could read it. On it was a list. His list of ideas to make it up to Dessy.

“Right, I’ll give it a once over and then I’ll slide it under the bathroom door.”

It read:

1.        Buy her lunch.

2.        Buy her dinner.

3.        Both.   

“I’ve gotta keep working." 

Later.

Chance struggled to his feet. Great. Numb body parts.

'Musta been sleepin’ funny. Again.'

 He shook his head, and looked around. "Hmm," he thought, "I’m hungry. Wonder if Jake wants anything."

He started. Jake! Oh, no! no no no! He’d completely forgotten him. He raced upstairs to the bathroom.

“Dessy! Dessy! Has Jake called?”

“No! Now go away! I’m cleaning!”

Chance leaned against the wall. Why hadn’t Jake called? He had a communicator with him. No, wait. He had the emergency communicator. That thing could only receive calls, not call out! What a useless piece of garbage that was. Uh oh, he’d better call him.

Later.

“Uh Dessy?” Chance asked as he turned to face the thin wooden door.

“Yessssss,” came an annoyed sounding voice from within the bathroom.

“I’ve had some ideas.”

“Go on then.”

He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he dug into his pocket with the other. He found the list, deep down, scrunched up to the seam at the bottom.

“Well… what would you say to dinner?” he ventured.

“It’s a start. You’re cooking it, I presume?”

“Well, I was just going to buy it. I’ve never been good at that sort of thing…”

Dessy stopped scrubbing the side of the bath tub for a moment. He wasn’t good at that sort of thing, so, apparently, Jake had handled all the cooking. Probably everything else too. But, now Jake wasn’t here. Dessy stood up, put the toilet lid down, and sat on it. So, she thought. Chance would automatically assume that she would look after him until Jake got back. Not happening. She knew then and there what she was going to do.

“Chance?”

“Yes?” he said, his voice hopeful.

“So, you don’t cook?”

“No.”

“Clean?”

“No.”

“Vacuuming, dishes, washing, ironing?”

“No. The deal me and Jake had was that he did all the gir.. housework, and I did most of the garage work. You know, if there was an extra car that needed doing, I’d do it, and he would start some food for our next meal…”

“Were you going to say ‘girls stuff’ instead of housework then?”

“No. No, no, no. No no no…”

“You were. Stand back a minute, I’m coming out.”

Dessy opened the bathroom door and stared Chance in the face.

“Ok, Chance Furlong. Here’s our deal. I’ll let it go if you do all the ‘girls work’ until Jake arrives back.”

“But, what about the garage?”

“There’s nothing to do there, besides, you took the day off, remember? Anyway, you cook breakfast, do some cleaning etc, all up to my standards and I’ll let it go. All right then, off you go.” She smirked as she thrust into his arms a pile of damp underpants, various cleaning fluids, and some strange smelling rubber gloves.

Even if she only got a break for a couple of hours until Jake got back, it was worth it. She couldn’t wait to see how Chance coped.

She edged around him and looked back to see him staring with glazed eyes into the half-finished bathroom.

Chapter Five:

“So, you’re from Megakat Junkyard?”

“Salvage yard and garage.”

Jake had been talking to the stranger, whose name turned out to be Ryan and who was apparently the owner of the café, for hours now. It was morning already, and he had had little sleep, and not much food until he had been given a generous ‘fry up’ by the owner.

“You’ve walked quite a way. Not too far though. You could get a taxi from here back home. What were you doing out here on foot at that time of night anyway?”

“I guess I just needed to walk, to clear my head.”

“Argument with your girlfriend?”

Girlfriend wasn’t actually correct. But, he didn’t want to complicate things.

“Yeah.”

“Can you get home?”

Jake thought. He had no money with him. He didn’t have access to a car. And he couldn’t call home.

“Here, I’ll lend you some money for the taxi. Pay me back later.”

“You sure? You don’t even know me.”

“Sure I do. Your name is Jake. You live at Megakat Junkyard”

“But…”

“Just take the taxi home. Pay me some other time.”