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Disclaimer: "The X-Files" and the characters of Mulder and Scully are not mine. They belong to Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen and Fox Television. I'm just borrowing them for the fun of it. No copyright infringement intended.
Rating: PG for some language
Category: S, H
Spoilers: None - alternate universe
Summary: A sequel to "That Darn Cat." Set about 6 months after the first story, Spooky has a few little surprises for Mulder, and he is even more clueless at what to do than ever.
****************************
August 21
7:45 a.m.
The phone rang stirring Dana Scully from her restful slumber. She rolled over to look at her bedside alarm and noticed the early time. Who the hell would be calling me on a Saturday morning, she thought.
"Scully," she sleepily answered and adding,"This better be an emergency."
"Hi, Scully, it's me," her partner, Fox Mulder, replied. "Did I wake you?"
"Mulder, it's not even 8 o'clock yet, and it's Saturday! What's the matter?"
"How quickly can you come on over?"
"Mulder, I'm in bed! What's going on?"
"Well...(silence)"
"Mulder?" Scully asked and noticing a distinct noise in the background.
"Mulder, is Spooky okay?"
"Um...more or less. Listen, Scully, I would really appreciate it if you can come on over. I have a..uh...situation that has occurred that I definitely need your expertise on."
Why me, Scully thought. I could have just been a plain old medical examiner. Heaven knows there are no emergencies with dead people. (Sigh) "Okay," she finally replied. "Give me half-an-hour."
"I'll brew some coffee," Mulder cheerfully said.
"And you better have some bagels warmed up, too!"
Scully hung up her phone and rolling over to the side of her bed, she slowly sat up with her eyes still closed.
"I need to find a new job," she mumbled out loud.
******************************
Mulder's Apartment
8:35 a.m.
Mulder looked at his watch for the upteenth time in the last 10 minutes. Where is she, he thought. She should have been here 20 minutes ago!
He heard a knock at his door. Finally!
"What is it, Mulder?" Scully asked before he even had the door halfway open. "You know that I was looking forward to taking it easy this weekend after having the last *three* spent working in another state. The last thing that I expected to do this early in the morning is to be working. So unless you have an alien handcuffed to your bedpost..."
"Good morning to you, too, Scully," Mulder piped in.
Scully looked at him, then closed her eyes and took in a long breath and slowly released it.
"Feel better?" Mulder asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. So what was the emergency...?"
It was Mulder's turn to take a deep breath. "Come follow me," he said as he lead the way to his bedroom.
The first thing Scully noticed was how dimly lit the room was as if not to disrupt the eyes. But coming from the well-lit kitchen and living room made her have to adjust for a moment. Then she heard a loud purring noise.
"Now, Scully...before you get on me about this, I just want to put it on the record that I had no idea that Spooky even escaped my apartment for any length of time much less this."
"This?" Scully asked as she saw in the far corner of his bedroom near his nightstand was Spooky resting on her side and it appeared as if she was just one big black mass with only her eyes visible with the dim light. Then she noticed that some of the black mass *moved*.
"What the...?" Scully started to say as she moved closer to find that Spooky was bigger by five little kittens.
"My God, Mulder. How long ago did she have them?"
"Earlier this morning. She usually likes sleeping on the couch out in the living room or at the foot of the bed. I noticed the past couple of nights that she had been rather listless and kept on rubbing up against my leg every time I came home."
"Didn't you know she was pregnant?"
Mulder looked embarrassed. "Um...no. We have been going out of town a lot lately that I had Mrs. Greer from down the hall look after Spooky. I guess she must have gone out of the building a few times through the fire escape or something. Honestly, I had no idea she was pregnant."
"Well, why didn't you get her neutered?"
"I was planning to. She just reached of age last month to do that, but like I said, we've been going out of town a lot lately, so...."
"...So, surprise! You're a grandfather!"
"Funny! Remind me to laugh about it another time, Scully. I need help here!"
Scully kneeled down next to Spooky, who gave her a scared look and a low growl. "Shhhh, Spooky," she said in the softest voice she can come up with that early in the morning. "It's alright girl. I'm not going to hurt you."
She picked up one of the kittens, who happened to be sleeping. Just like the other four kittens, the one she was holding was mainly black with some white features on the underbelly reminiscent of Sylvester the cartoon cat. "Awww, it's adorable!" she replied. Scully slowly put her back next to Spooky and then checked to make sure that she was able to give milk. After a few more minutes examining each kitten, she got up on her feet.
Mulder looked at her for some response. "Well....?"
"Well, nothing, Mulder. Spooky had 2 males in that bunch. They all seem to be fine, but I'm a medical doctor, Mulder, not a vet. What little experience I do have with newborn kittens is that the mother does everything. You just have to make sure they are kept in a warm dry spot, so I suggest getting some old shirts and making a little nest there for them. Also, make sure that Spooky keeps eating so that she can nurse them. Otherwise, she'll waste away fast."
"I barely know what to do with Spooky sometimes, let alone *kittens*!"
"Look, Mulder...there's really nothing else you can do right now. You have to let nature take its course and allow the kittens to grow and thrive. They're way too young to give away yet. It's going to be at least 4 weeks before they start eating solid food and learn to use the litter box and another 4 weeks before you can start giving them away."
"Eight weeks!"
"Yes, Mulder. Eight weeks."
Scully noticed that even in the dimly-lit room, all the color in Mulder's face disappeared.
"It's not going to be that bad, Mulder. As long as Spooky is around to nurse them and be their mother, they're going to be just fine."
"Eight weeks?"
"Yes, Mulder. Eight weeks."
********************************
J. Edgar Hoover Building
September 30 (About Six Weeks Later)
8:32 a.m.
Scully set her leather briefcase on her desk while stifling a yawn. She had been up until 1:30 that morning trying to finish up some field reports that she took from Mulder so that he can catch up on some sleep. Since Spooky's kittens have learned to be mobile and explore every square inch of Mulder's apartment, he's had very little sleep in the past few days. As tired as I feel, Scully thought, Mulder looks like...
The door swung open revealing a rather disheveled Mulder.
...hell. "Mulder, are you okay?"
Mulder's eyes were zombie-like as he looked at her general direction without actually acknowledging her presence. He stumbled forward to his desk and plopped down in his chair. Before Scully said anything else, Mulder's head dropped down face first on his desk with a resounding "Thud!"
"My God, Mulder! What happened?"
Without even raising his head, Mulder replied, "No sleep, Scully. Absolutely no sleep!"
"The kittens again, huh?"
"You think?" Mulder replied. "They are five little devils who do not have any idea that when it's nighttime, they have to sleep."
"I don't think I have to remind you, Mulder, that cats are nocturnal animals. Night is like day to them. And with kittens, they just love the nighttime."
Mulder finally raised his head to look at her. "*Now* you tell me!"
Scully had to stifle a giggle. "I'm sorry, Mulder. I thought you knew that."
"Well, I remember that when I first had Spooky living with me, she would play a little bit but then she would just end up going to a corner of the sofa and fall asleep. I don't remember her causing so much ruckus at night."
"You really can't compare the kittens to Spooky. She was alone and only had herself to amuse. You basically have an equivalent of quintuplets at home that are all the exact same age and mindset. They have each other to play with and being curious animals, they want to explore your apartment as much as possible, because it is their world. Sort of like when we go to other cities."
"I need sleep, Scully, not explanations. Besides, I thought you said that you didn't have much experience with newborn kittens."
"True. But when I was a kid, my neighbor's daughter had them, and she used to tell me some of the things they did."
Mulder let his head drop back down to his desk again. Thud!
"Don't worry, Mulder. They're almost old enough that you can start giving them away to good homes. Have you put an ad at your apartment building?"
Mulder nodded his head without lifting it off his desk.
"I'll put one up in my apartment building, and I'm sure that it won't be too long after they're ready to go that they'll finally be off your hands."
Mulder looked up at her. "Two more weeks?"
"Two more weeks."
Thud!
********************************
Mulder's Apartment
October 17 (Three Weeks Later)
2:30 p.m.
"I'm sorry, Mulder," Scully said.
Mulder was sitting on his couch holding one of his prized videos in his hand. One of the kittens had gotten a hold of it and started pulling out the tape. One of the other kittens joined in and the next thing Mulder knew, his video was destroyed.
"You told me two more weeks, Scully. That was a week ago!"
Scully grinned. "What can I say, Mulder? I'm surprised that neither one of us got any responses to our ads. Usually, kittens are taken up like that (snapping her fingers)."
The five little critters, each about the size of her shoe, were all around Mulder's feet playing a hide-and-seek game and wrestling. Scully couldn't help but fall in love with them.
"They're so cute, Mulder. You sure you don't want to keep them?"
Mulder just gave her a dirty look.
"Oh...right."
*************************************
Mulder's Apartment
October 30
"You're sure this is okay with you?" Mulder asked.
"Oh, yes," Mrs. Scully replied. "Dana just mentioned your kittens to me last week, and I had told her that I've been looking for a kitten for awhile. I think it's fate."
"Well, I can tell you, Mrs. Scully, that you are a godsend. This was the last kitten available."
"Yes, I know. I'm just glad that I was able to get here in time. Otherwise, I might have missed this cute one." She held the kitten in her arms where it fell asleep and was noticably purring. "Aw, it's purring!"
Mulder smiled. He was glad to have been able to give away all the kittens. Ironically, within the last week, people have been calling left and right to snatch up the kittens. I guess Scully was right, Mulder thought.
After Mrs. Scully left, Mulder called up her daughter.
"Scully."
"Hey, Scully. Your mom came around and snatched up the last one."
"That's good, Mulder. I'm happy for you."
"Um...listen, Scully. I just want to thank you for all your help and also want to apologize for some of my behavior these past few weeks. I can see that I took it out on you, and that was wrong. I hope you're not upset with me."
"Of course not, Mulder. You needed help, so I helped. I'll see you tomorrow, Mulder."
"Okay. Thanks again."
********************************
Scully was about to put her phone back on the recharger when it rang again.
"Scully."
"Hi, Dana. I'm on my way there."
"Thanks, Mom."
As she put the phone back on the recharger, she felt something furry snuggling up to her ankle. She looked down to find one of the four kittens there.
"Hi, little one," she softly said as she picked it up. "Hope you like your new home."
Scully laid the cat on her lap as it slowly fell asleep. She smiled as she thought of the friends and family members whom she asked to call Mulder to inquire about the kittens. Scully couldn't bear to see Mulder suffering anymore and even though she knew that she would have trouble taking care of the kittens herself, her mother will be able to help find good homes for them soon. All of her mother's female friends were looking for cats but wanted older ones. So Scully will watch them with her mother's help until they turn six months, and then, they will be going to good homes.
"Just four more months," Scully said out loud.
THE END
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