Chance sat close beside Ulysses on the couch with Jake sitting in the comfy chair opposite them. They sat silent for some minutes. No one seemed to know where to start.
Jake sighed and decided to just plunge in. "Okay, the areas I foresee a problem would be; keeping your relationship secret, finding a way for you to be together, how we handle our encounters when on duty, and...well that's enough to start on."
"There is one more, raising kittens and where." Feral murmured.
Jake blanched and gaped at the dark tom. He finally managed to choke out, "Kittens? You don't mean..."
"Yeah, actually he does. That's about how I reacted to the news to." Chance said in mild amusement at his friend's bug-eyed reaction.
"Uh...well...are you planning on breeding real soon?" Jake asked, blushing at asking about such a sensitive subject.
"I wasn't planning on it. However, my heat cycles are extremely intense and staying apart during that time isn't an option." Feral said unhappily, this being the only thing he was truly concerned about.
Chance patted his mate's leg comfortingly. "Don't worry, Uly. I will have to be the responsible one and do what I need to in preventing conception until we want it to happen. However, I know an accident is bound to happen anyway so we need to be prepared. How often is your cycles and how long are they?" He asked.
"Twice a year, May and November and lasts twenty-four hours. The first twelve, obviously, is the worst." Feral answered.
"Well that's not too bad." Chance said thoughtfully.
"No it isn't but the fact he can get pregnant, is. You guys will have to find new quarters that allow secrecy to be maintained while giving you a home for those kittens." Jake said, shaking his head at this new complication.
"Crud, you're not asking a lot are you?" Chance asked rhetorically.
"He's right though." Feral sighed, leaning back then tilting his head to stare at the ceiling as he thought about this. They let him be for a moment.
"It also means response time to alerts will be longer due to being in separate dwellings." Jake grimaced unhappily.
"Not necessarily, because during the day I'll be here. We don't get a lot of night calls, surprisingly, and with Dark Kat out of the picture, we just might get a decent break for once." Chance said optimistically.
"One could hope. Well..." His friend started to say.
"I think I may have a solution to finding our new home." Feral broke in, his face thoughtful.
"Well let's hear it." Chance snorted, poking him playfully in the side. Feral snorted at him for his impatience.
"I know of a few properties that are in fairly secluded areas and not that far by chopper nor your cyclotron. Regular vehicles, though, would take over an hour to reach them." He said.
"That must mean they are on the outskirts of the city." Chance frowned, not certain he liked that idea.
"Yes, they are but they meet our needs for security and privacy." The dark tom said flatly. "And for your information, I don't like it much either."
"There's an added problem that you're not going to like either." Jake said. "Your choppers have tracking devices on them. You would have to disconnect or jam its signal so you aren't followed to your home and your enforcers might take that the wrong way if you do this."
Feral frowned but said, "They might if I allowed them to. Though I had wanted to keep my being mated a secret and, from the public I still intend to, from the Mayor's office and my enforcers I can't by regulation. So I inform those parties I'm mated and, due to the threats to my life, my home and the name of my mate will be kept secret. This will allow me to jam the signal but I will have to be in radio reach. How will you solve that?"
"That's easy! I modify your radio. However, you can't be losing them as you seemed to do so often." Jake told him.
Feral grimaced. "It isn't usually my fault but I understand and will try to retain the same radio."
"You're going to tell them you're mated but are you going to let them know you're a male herm and that your mate is male too?" Chance asked.
His mate eyed him unhappily. "I hope to keep that secret but if I become pregnant that's going to come back and bite me in the tail."
"Then let it! I don't think anyone has a right to know how different you are until you're forced to inform them. Not knowing your mate is male could be the perfect cover since your enemies won't know who to look for. They may automatically look for a female but they'll be wrong and frustrated for a long time." Chance said firmly. "Even if they should find our home, they'll still be looking for a she-kat and won't believe, to their peril, that you're with a male." He grinned wolfishly.
His mate thought about that for several minutes then nodded. "I think that's an excellent idea and will give us even more privacy from prying eyes as well."
"Well, I can make sure your home is well protected with a few patented security devices of my own design. They won't make the same mistake twice if they are lucky to still be alive after they encounter them." Jake said, a grim smile on his lips.
"I think I might be pitying the criminals if they dared to try your systems." Feral grinned.
"Why, thank you." Jake smirked.
"Alright, that takes care of our co-habitation problem. Let's address how we are to behave when we see each other on duty." Chance said, bringing up their next concern.
"Nothing changes!" Feral said promptly. "Keeping our behavior toward one another the same as always will ensure no one suspects there's anything going on."
Chance and Jake both nodded. "Yeah, you're right, less likely to make a mistake that way too." Jake said, thoughtfully.
"However, there's just one thing that might..." The tabby said slowly eyeing his mate seriously.
Feral frowned at him questioningly.
"If you're in trouble and come to harm, no way can I stand by and not do anything. Mates wouldn't do that and bonded ones can't." He said firmly.
"Uhmm, we'll that's true and the same goes for you as well." The dark tom rumbled in concern.
"Then we're just going to have to be as circumspect as we can and I'll run interference as much as I'm able to, keeping anyone from seeing anything unusual. But you won't be able to go to the hospital with whomever is hurt the worst. Sneaking is your watchword now and I know that's going to cause a lot of emotional grief." Jake said grimly to both of them.
Feral rubbed his face, Chance not looking any happier about it as he leaned closer to his mate and nuzzled him.
To lighten the suddenly somber mood, Jake changed the subject.
"By the way, Commander, thanks for the suggestion. I'm still annoyed with myself for not having thought of it myself. I should be able to sell some of my plans within days since I have buyers that have been harassing me a bit whenever I'm on line."
"You're on line? With who and where?" Feral asked in concern.
"Don't be concerned. I speak with other inventors and engineers anonymously. They just are always whining about trying to get a hold of Razor to beg for my plans. I don't let them know its me that's listening and participating but I'm sure they know I'm around by some of my comments." Jake assured him.
Feral relaxed and smiled. "Well, that's great to know. I always felt you got a rotten deal and that there's no reason you shouldn't capitalize on your notoriety as a SWAT Kat to get you out of this debt. As I told Chance, I can't cancel the debt since the powers that be think it was a fair punishment."
"I don't disagree." Jake said simply, making Chance's jaw drop in surprise. "What? I told you then, buddy, that we were partly at fault in the first place. I was angry...have no doubt of that...but we didn't play by the rules and we got bit by it."
Chance just shook his head in disbelief. Feral pulled him closer and soothed him by rubbing his back as he looked over at Jake with admiration.
"I've really missed just how intelligent you are Jake. That could have gotten you far in R & D. Losing you cost the enforcers a chance to get ahead of the omegas but at least you still managed to do so even if it's on the other side of the law."
"Well thanks for the off hand compliment." Jake smirked, really pleased inside to be seen as bright by the one he had wanted to impress so very long ago.
"Okay, is there anything else we need to talk about right now?" Chance asked, stretching.
"Nothing I can think of at the moment. We'll just have to handle problems as they come up, is all. I think you and I should go house hunting this weekend. I'll show you the places I was interested in." Feral answered Jake before turning his attention on his mate.
"Sounds good to me. Jake?" Chance asked.
"Nope, nothing more from me. We're caught up in the garage and I plan on opening a dialog with those that are interested in buying my designs. Really want to get started removing us from the need of running a garage to make money. If we can free ourselves up then we'll have plenty of down time when we need to recharge after fighting criminals. Running the salvage yard doesn't take that much of our time." Jake said confidently.
"Good idea, Jake. Now, shall we retire and just be with each other, my mate?" Feral purred, pulling Chance tightly to him and depositing a passionate kiss on his lips.
"Hmmm, yeah, good idea." Chance said huskily when he could catch his breath again.
Jake chuckled as the pair got off the couch and left for Chance's room. He felt good. He had thought having Feral know who they were was going to be a problem but it turned out, in private, Feral was rather a nice guy.
Humming happily to himself, he decided, since he didn't need much sleep, he'd go on line in the hangar. That way he wouldn't be subjected to his buddy's rather loud enjoyment of his mate.
Two months later...
"He said what?" Chance asked, dismay in his voice.
"His honor said, 'It's the duty of all upper level personal to attend charity and other special functions with their significant other or a guest.'" Feral quoted, anger making him growl his words.
"Well crud! We've not been together that long and here's our first problem." Chance growled in annoyance as he paced back and forth in the living room of their new home.
"He didn't care about my reasons even though Ms. Briggs thought there were very valid and supported me." His dark furred mate grumbled.
"Sounds like Callie." Chance said distractedly.
"I have only one solution for you guys." Jake suddenly spoke up. He'd been over for dinner as he did occasionally, when Feral had arrived home slamming the door in his anger.
The two turned to look at him.
"You have to tell the Mayor you're mated to a male and what you are. Though its no ones business that you're a herm, some might find it hard to accept or believe so the Mayor should be disinclined to see you there with a male on your arm that could cause unwanted negative attention." Jake said reasonably. "Of course, you still don't tell him who your mate is."
Both males looked a little annoyed at that observation but Feral sighed and relaxed. "Much as it pains me for Manx to know about me, I believe you have the right idea. The upper crust are a bit sensitive about herms even though we're supposed to be treated exactly like everyone else. That of course, doesn't stop the small minded who wouldn't hesitate to use something like that against me."
"That's bigoted!" Chance snapped.
"Yeah, it is but it's the way things are with our 'oh so perfect' high society types. It's why I hate these formal do's so much." Feral snorted in disgust.
"I'd really like to give a few of those stuck up Kats a piece of my mind and a few other things..." Chance muttered angrily.
Feral smiled warmly, "Thanks love, it's enough to know you would be willing to do that. Makes it easier to give away something so personal to that pompous fool."
"Humph! I'd like to see his eyes bug out if I came in there and declared I was your mate." Chance snorted in amusement.
Jake laughed, "Oh yeah! He'd probably faint dead away."
"Besides love, what would he do to you if you did refuse to take a date or mate?" Chance asked, calming down some and dropping onto the couch.
Feral sighed. "He could dock my pay and take other punitive actions. And if I continue to defy him on this, he could suspend or remove me from my position."
"What?" Chance gaped at him in shock.
"His position is an elected one, buddy, though I doubt very much Manx would try it since he has no takers for the position except for that fool Steele." Jake said.
"You're certainly up on the politics of the city, Jake." Feral said, arching an eyebrow skyward in surprise.
"It pays to know what's going on since it can have a profound impact on our lives especially ours." Jake said sagely.
"Glad to know you do keep up with politics, maybe you can educate my mate. Anyway, Jake's right Chance, I really dare not push Manx's paws on this even though, truthfully, he is too cowardly to try anything and Ms. Briggs wouldn't let him hear the end of it either." Feral gave a grim laugh as he too sat down.
"Humph!" Chance grunted then a wicked smile crossed his face. "Hey, Jake can you whip up something non-lethal but nasty that I could leave as a present for a certain city official?"
"Don't you dare!" Feral growled while trying to keep from laughing at the attempt of innocense on the tabby's face.
"Hey, it was just a thought!" Chance said spreading his paws and smirking.