To Mooky's extreme displeasure, the Catcher nightmare revisited his dreams that night.

"Stop!" Mooky shrieked as the Catcher scooped him up in his net and dumped him inside the cage. He sprang up at the door, but again, it slammed in his face, this time making him tumble backwards. He scrambled his way back again, in time to see the neighborhood cats fade into the distance.

A heavy panting sounded behind him. Mooky turned, knowing what he would see, yet still hunching in fear when he made out the massive shape of Kenny's dog sitting in the shadows of the cage behind him.

But this time, instead of barking and leaping at him, Kenny's dog said, "Relax. I'm not going to eat you. Not yet."

Mooky bristled in disbelief. What the—? The dog was talking! In what world was that not madness? The beast bared its teeth, waiting for a reply and Mooky stammered out, "You're...you're not?"

"Oh no." The dog scratched at its side. "I'm going work up a nice appetite and wait until we get to the Catcher Place." It licked its lips at Mooky's horrified expression. "The Catcher Place has pepper. I like my cats with pepper."

***

Mooky jolted awake. Darkness eclipsed the cul-de-sac, broken only by the single street light that rose before Kenny's house. Mooky gave the house a frightened look, and shuddered as he imagined that dog talking. He knew that he shouldn't be frightened, as the worries of the day had simply permeated his dreams again, but he could scarcely help it: did dogs really like their cats with pepper?

After another horrified shiver, Mooky shook himself, trying to snap out of it. It was just a dumb nightmare, you fluffing moron! Go back to sleep.

But he felt too restless to attempt at dozing off just yet — he wasn't eager to see whether or not the Catcher nightmare would have a rerun. And besides, his stomach was growling again. Even though it was the middle of the night, he thought about poking around, seeing if there were any scraps in LoLo's food bowl — he was pretty sure that that old woman locked him inside at night.

Before Mooky could make his way down his tree, a sudden grumpy meow caught his attention: "What're you doing here?"

It was Lizzy's voice: Mooky spotted her sitting down in her yard, tail lashing in hostility. The kits were nowhere in sight. Maybe they were sleeping inside?

Susan was padding through the grass towards the she-cat, his muscular shoulders tense.

Whoa! What's going on here? After Lizzy's hostility towards Susan earlier that day, he hadn't expected for the white tom to approach his former mate so soon after. What was this about?

"That's far enough." Lizzy's voice was barb-sharp. "What do you want?"

Susan halted a little ways away from Lizzy, curling his tail around his flanks.

"I saw you talking to Mooky earlier," he said, eyes narrowed.

Mousetails! Mooky felt himself bristling from where he crouched high above. Susan had seen him and Lizzy talking... What did this mean? Did he know about Lizzy's proposal?

The she-cat's voice was flat. "Yes, we chatted. What is it to you?"

"What about?" Susan asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Lizzy asked suspiciously.

Susan nonchalantly licked a paw. "Just curious."

"It's none of your business." The tip of Lizzy's tail flicked in annoyance. "Now, is that all? I'm tired, and I don't have the energy to deal with the likes of you."

Ouch! Mooky winced as the she-cat spun around, padding rapidly back towards the porch.

"You offered to be his mate, didn't you?" Susan called after her.

What! Mooky stiffened about as much as Lizzy did, his claws digging into his tree branch with shock. How had Susan guessed what they'd spoken of? How had he known?

To his surprise, Lizzy didn't sound angry: "Yes, I did." She paused, turning around and glaring at Susan with angry green eyes. "How did you know?"

Susan shrugged. "The Russian. Apparently, you gave him the same proposition two weeks ago."

What! She'd asked the Russian to— He dug his claws into the tree, reeling in confusion. He watched anxiously as the two cats stared at each other, wondering what other crazy turns this conversation was going to take.

After a moment of silence, Susan asked, "What did he say?"

Lizzy sneered. "What's the matter? Afraid that your friend has betrayed you?"

"Actually, I'm more wondering why you want him to betray me. Was it because the Russian didn't?"

The calico snorted. "Please. I'm not trying to pit you two against each other. I'm just looking for what I've wanted since the start: a strong, brave mate who isn't afraid to defend his kits."

"And you think Mooky is this cat?" Susan's voice was angry.

"Better him than the likes of you! A coward who would turn tail and run at the first sign of danger!"

Susan's tail lashed — his former-mate's words had struck a nerve. "Lizzy, we've been over this—"

"No, we haven't!" Lizzy's angry yowl cut through the quiet night, and a barrage of barking started up from Kenny's yard. Lizzy continued as if she hadn't heard the dog: "We haven't been 'over' anything, you craven! The only thing you've done is run and hide! From your family and your incompetence!"

Susan hissed angrily. "Lizzy, it was a dog," he snapped. "There was nothing I could—"

"That's not the point!" Lizzy's voice was high and furious. "You are my mate! You're the father of my kits! You have an obligation to protect your family! Even if your enemy is a beast two times larger than yourself! But when that...that...that mutt escaped and killed our kit... You just ran. As if you didn't care that the rest of us were unable to defend ourselves." Her fierce eyes pinned Susan in a scathing green glare. "That dog killed our child...and you abandoned us. And you accuse me of betrayal?"

Lizzy's words left a cold, black void in its wake, chilling the air and tripling gravity's magnitude. The she-cat crouched, anguished, and Susan hunched before her, ears flattened in what had to be shame. Even Mooky, from where he silently watched in his tree, felt heavier, his stomach churning in dismay.

So that's what had happened... What had driven them apart. It hadn't been a mistress on the sidelines. It had been the death of a kit, one Susan hadn't been able to prevent. It made Mooky sad — and ashamed for eavesdropping on such a terrible conversation.

For a long while, neither of the cats spoke. Then, Susan finally spoke in a rough, miserable meow: "I-I'm sorry."

Lizzy did not respond.

Susan's voice was a weak tremble. "W-when that...b-blasted dog killed your kit...it horrified me. Seeing it in that dog's jaws...I-I still dream about it, I swear I do. And when I imagined myself in that dog's jaws like that... I had to get out of there."

Lizzy remained silent, her paws, like Susan's, working the grass.

"I didn't return because...because I was ashamed. I knew you hated me for what happened, for running and hiding, leaving your owners to save you and the kits when I should've. And I-I couldn't come back after that... I just felt too wretched. I didn't deserve you or our kits, and you didn't deserve a coward.

"So...I punished myself and stayed away." Tentatively, like a spooked kit, Susan looked up at his mate, and his voice became rough with sorrow. "It was selfish and cowardly, like you said, and you can hate me all you want, and more, I deserve it. But..." Hesitantly, he rose, padding a few steps towards his mate. "Our kit died because of me, and you've grieved his death alone. I don't want you to have to bear this by yourself anymore. We don't have to be mates, and we don't have to be friends, but..." He took a few more steps, finally close enough that their pelts brushed. "Please, Lizzy, let me help you."

Mooky saw Lizzy's haunches tense — for a second, he thought that the she-cat was going to drive Susan away. But she remained motionless as the long-legged tom settled down beside her, tucking his paws beneath his chest. Mooky watched as they sat like that for a while, side by side. Eventually, Lizzy's tail hesitantly twined with Susan's, and the tomcat gave her ear a comforting lick.

Mooky felt himself purr in relief, happy that the two cats had reconciled. Settling back within his tree branches, he drifted back to sleep, not wanting to eavesdrop anymore as they mourned their dead kit together.