Work Text:
For I Still Love Her
by Rauhnee Ranshanka
GateKat@SWATKats.net
"Uhh, Razor?" T-Bone's voice was a little shaky and definitely disturbed as he called for his partner's attention in their Hanger. "We have ... company?"
"Oh, krud." The lean tom breathed as his head came out of the TurboKat's bomb bay and got a good look at the faintly glowing, translucent white she-kat in her late teens hovering a few inches above the floor on the other side of the room. "Rrr ... uh, hi Talla." Pain and regret laced his low voice.
"You two ... know each other?" T-Bone tensed, but backed out of the way as the phantasm glided towards his partner.
"Yah." Razor leaped off the jet and removed his helmet and mask as she glanced at the big tabby for the first time. "Talla, this is Chance Furlong, my partner and mate. Chance ... Talla Clawson, my wife."
W ... wife?" T-Bone's eyes went wide as he nearly lost his balance.
"Yah." Jake lowered his gaze, his voice rough with buried emotions. "This is why I came here, or the cause of it at least."
"Uhh, buddy ... I think you need to explain this one slowly ... and from the beginning." He lowered himself onto a nearby bench and gave Talla a very through looking over. He blinked when it registered that she was most likely pregnant. "She isn't a threat, right?"
"Unless you try to hurt me, no." Jake blinked a little moisture from his eyes and held his hand out to the silent ghost. Their fingers mingled for a moment before she managed to become a little more solid and smiled at him in pure joy. "I don't want to explain this here."
"Then where?" T-Bone stood as calmly as he could with a sinking heart as similar images of Razor and Callista flickering up unbidden. Especially the passionate kiss he was sure his partner didn't know he'd seen. He knew he'd barely talked his mate into coming home that time, and this ....
"Upstairs ... bedroom." Jake shivered and sighed as Talla embraced him, half solid. "I've missed you so much, love."
Chance cringed outright to hear an endearment the lean tom had not said to him their four years as mates directed at another as put his mask and helmet away, then followed the pair upstairs. He was barely able to listen as Jake started the story. Only his partner's obvious pain kept him focused as he watched from the foot of their bed.
"We, Talla and I, grew up on a racing Thoroughbred ranch, The Shattered Storm." The cinnamon tom spoke softly as his wife drifted next to him, trying to seem to be siting at his side at the head of the bed. He pulled himself into a slightly tighter ball, pressing his knees against his chest and trembled a little more.
"We married just after my seventeenth birthday, in time for her heat that year to produce an heir. When it was certain she was carrying we got to go on our honeymoon. Two daughters and son." He fell silent and hid his face in crossed arms for a long time as Talla caressed his hair with phantom fingers, even sadder than before.
When he finally looked up again, his eyes were red rimmed and his fur damp. "We spent seven weeks in the mountains; hiking, swimming, lounging around ... getting reacquainted." He fell silent again.
"We were hiking in the mountains ... she slipped, died in a rock slide."
Talla did her best to embrace her husband as Tom and fem fell silent as Jake lost what was left of his control and began sobbing, his shoulders heaving with each ragged breath.
Chance finally had all he could take and moved to the head of the bed, on the opposite side of his mate from Talla. "I love him too." He whispered at her and curled around the lean tom. "I love you Jake."
"I know." He forced out between hiccuping sobs and leaned into his mate. "I know." He whispered as his body finally calmed down, leaving him weak and cold.
"I need ..." Talla hesitated, her voice light and echoing as both of them stared at her in shock. "You kittens souls are trapped in me. They will only leave to be _your_ kittens." She strained to continue and spoke more quickly. "I can't rest until they are born. I need you to breed love."
"Talla ..." Jake froze as she leaned forward to kiss him; a tender, loving touch he returned before she faded completely.
"Love ..." Chance tried very hard to keep the agony from his voice. "If this is what's required ... I'll help you find their mother. Whatever you want in her, just tell me."
Jake regarded his mate with more than a little bewilderment. "Why?"
The tabby closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. "Because I love you. I want what's best for you, even ... even when it hurts."
"Oh." He dropped his eyes to his hands. "How ... willing are you to do what's ... necessary to find her?"
"Any thing I can."
"Sure?" Jake looked up, already seeing the answer in golden eyes.
The tabby nodded. "Just tell me what."
"You have to trust me." He twisted up to claim a tearful kiss. "Because you are her, love."
"Urrr ..." Chance pulled away, staring at his partner. "_How_?"
"You're going to have to trust me. It's possible and it's not permanent. Just long enough for the kittens to be born and weaned." He caressed his mate's face. "Will you?"
The tabby worked his jaw for several moments, trying to get the words out. "I'd be their ... blood mother? _Our_ kittens?"
"Yes." He nodded. "_Our_ kittens, by blood. Talla's and mine by soul."
Chance took a deep breath. "I trust you."
End: For I Still Love Her ... 1/1
by Rauhnee Ranshanka GateKat@SWATKats.Net
http://www.Shadowynd.com/~rauhnee/index.html