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Mittens reflects on her journey with Bolt, and why she came back for him.

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Thought I'd give a try at a Bolt story. Yiff might come after the clean stuff is done.I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1: Setting the scene

by Anillio Natson

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Sunset. It was something beautiful to see when there were no other distracting objects around. No electronic gadgets, no noise making cars, nothing to tear you away from one of nature's many wonders. Orange light painted the horizon, with lines of clouds floating past lazily, ignorant of all that happened below them or whoever was watching.

And it just so happened that below them, a cat was seated on the porch of a house, gazing at the natural beauty that had graced the skies. She was lost in thought; her eyes seemed a thousand miles deep. She hardly moved an inch and said nothing; after all, there was no reason to interrupt this moment of tranquillity.

"Mittens?"

And the spell was broken, just like that. Mittens blinked, snapping out of her trance, and turning to face the source of the question. A diminutive white shepherd emerged from inside the house, walking up to her.

"Hey, Wags," she replied softly, her collar jingling as she spoke.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"Why not? The sunset is free for everyone to see anyway."

Bolt smiled, and sat down next to her. For a while, they just stared at the horizon in peaceful silence, neither of them saying anything. But after a few minutes, Mittens broke the silence.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Bolt nodded slowly.

"Yeah, it's nothing like the show set. It's so much more...real. I've seen it quite a few times, but I never seem to get bored of it."

"You really don't know what you've been missing, Bolt. I guess the set made it look real enough to you. At least, until it burned down." She smirked.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Bolt said, turning to her. "What made you come back?"

"Come again?"

"You know...just before the fire. Why'd you come back? You had everything you wanted: Food, shelter...well, I'm pretty sure that's all you wanted."

"Well, it's quite a long story, Wags. Might take a while, ya know."

Bolt shrugged. "Well, I've got time. It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon."

"It's only been a week since the fire, Wags. I'm still...adjusting, you know? Need some time to settle down and all that."

"You mean being a house pet? Don't worry, it's not as bad as it seems." He grinned wryly.

Mittens sighed, in apparent irritation. "Wags, I've been a housecat for most of my life. I know what it's like."

"Oh...yeah," he replied sheepishly, his grin slowly disappearing. He felt a little awkward bringing up Mittens' previous people; after all, it wasn't something she liked to talk about. Even during the cross-country trip, she had kept it from him all the way until Vegas. It was obvious the whole abandoning issue had left her rather...bitter, to put it mildly.

"Bolt, where are you boy?" Penny called from inside the house. Bolt's ears perked up immediately.

"Looks like Penny's calling. You should go."

"Right." He was about to turn and leave, but then he paused.

"Mittens, if there's anything wrong, you know-"

"I know, Bolt. I know. Thanks." She forced a smile.

Once he was out of sight, she sighed to herself in exasperation. He had said two things that she didn't want to hear. Why she came back for him, and the current one she was presently mulling over: The fact that she was now a house pet.

She wondered to herself: Why am I being like this? I should have gotten over this by now...

But she knew that it wouldn't be easy to. Her previous owners--or people, as Bolt would put it--made her this way. She believed in them, and they left her alone right as she did that. It was cruel really--you cheat someone of their feelings just when they are strongest. That experience had left a wound so deep in her heart, she thought it would never heal.

The bell on her collar jingled again as she shook her head sadly. Her collar, she thought. She remembered vividly, removing it by force and tossing it aside in a random alley in the New York streets after she couldn't find them anymore. She had found a broken fence to catch the collar on to and tugged on it until it snapped in two. After that, she walked as far away as she could from there, never looking back again. She had spent a whole week trying to find them, searching every street in the area, questioning everybody around who she could, but the answer was always the same.

No information whatsoever. It was like they disappeared in the middle of the night. Strangely, she didn't remember how they disappeared, but only what happened after. Maybe she just forgot, or her mind blocked it out on purpose. Either way, they were gone, and she didn't want to think of them anymore.

Until now.

Now she was forced to think of them, no matter how much she didn't want to. That was because she was in a family again. Doubts about whether her new family would really care genuinely for her remained.

Even though Penny's mom was nice, and Penny treated her as well as she did Bolt, Mittens had not been very responsive to their attention. She would still flinch at Penny's touch, and keep away from them as much as possible. She still wondered if she could forgive and forget, lest the same thing happened again like with her previous owners.

She was just scared; scared to have another hole blown in her heart again.

Can I...really trust them? Is it time for me to just accept it and move on? Can I allow myself to love again?

It was hard, really. It becomes harder to trust again after you lose it the first time.

No. I can trust Bolt, she told herself. _ He trusted me. I trust him. But...can I trust Penny? What if she doesn't love me as much as Bolt and doesn't want me?_

"Hey, Mittens." She turned around at Bolt's voice. He was there, with Penny standing next to him.

She was so lost in thought; night had fallen without her noticing it.

"Hey girl, I brought some food for you." She sat down next to her and set down a small bowl of cat food.

Mittens had nothing against Penny in particular, but she just didn't feel too comfortable around people yet. The last few days had been no problem; Penny had been too busy with other matters to really care about her. But now things were calming down, and everybody was finally starting to relax.

And she's going to worry about me now that she has the time, Mittens mused to herself.

"What's wrong girl? Are you sick or something? Well, the vet did say you were fine," Penny said, cocking her head with a puzzled look on her face.

"Come on Mittens, you haven't eaten anything," Bolt said, padding over and sitting next to her. He nudged the bowl closer to her, urging her to eat.

She was still edgy, but with Bolt next to her, she felt safer, more relaxed, and she started eating. It didn't taste as good as the food they ate in Las Vegas--in fact, it was rather stale--but she wasn't complaining.

Penny watched quietly the whole time Mittens ate. When Mittens glanced up at her, she smiled wordlessly, assuring her that she was a friend. After all the food was gone, Penny cautiously placed a hand between Mittens' ears and gently stroked her down her back. Mittens tensed up at first, still a little bit wary, but slowly, she allowed herself to be stroked, and relaxed. Her stiff body went limp, while her eyelids closed halfway blissfully as she savoured the attention. Dreams of happy endings filled her head.

It was funny--just a year ago she had vehemently forced it into her brain that happy endings were a myth. And now here she was, sitting contently in what appeared to be a quintessential example of it. Penny took the chance and lifted her up onto her lap. Mittens didn't resist. She elicited a soft purr, much to the pleasant surprise of both Bolt and Penny. She could feel a few layers of ice around her heart melting away as she herself melted into Penny's arms.

It had been a long time since she was last loved--or cared--by anyone. It didn't matter if the love were to only last a while. She just wanted to allow herself to enjoy it now.

She remembered Bolt singing Penny's praises many times through the cross-country trip. He would go on and on about how she would love and care for him: Bathe him, take him for walks, sleep next to him at night--the list went on. Truth be told, she felt sick hearing him talk about her back then, but she didn't say anything until they got to Las Vegas. She was sceptical of his claim; she didn't want to believe it, just because her own owners left her. But now, she felt that maybe he was right after all.

Bolt watched this scene unfold with a smile on his face; it seemed there was hope for Mittens to recover and heal after all.

* * * * *

Mittens awoke with a start, and realised she had been sleeping. She attempted to move, but there was something on top of her. Blinking, she realised she was in Penny's room, sleeping on Penny's bed, with Penny's arm resting on top of her. Embarrassment sunk in; she had fallen asleep, and Penny had carried her into her bedroom to spend the night.

So much for all that talk about taking a long time before I could trust her. I just fell asleep in her arms!

At least, that was one problem out of the way. But as she was about to relax, a distant part of her mind clicked as another problem surfaced.

Bolt.

Like Penny, he was also fast asleep. He was within a few inches of her, and she could hear the steady rhythm of his breathing. As she watched the steady rising and falling of his chest, the question he asked made its presence known in her head again.

Why did I go back for him?

It was a simple question, with a supposedly simple answer. The answer was not the problem, but the underlying implications that lay within. She knew that, she would have to tell him eventually, but she wouldn't know how to.

Because now, her feelings had changed. And that made it all the more difficult to tell him.

Over the course of the cross country trip, Mittens had become a different person. Bolt had taken her life and turned it upside down. Back in Vegas, she had been ready to stay and enjoy life to the fullest--after all, it had everything she wanted--but Bolt made her hesitate. He changed her mind. Had it been a few weeks earlier, she would never have hesitated to let Bolt go his own way.

How did things end up like this? I actually abandoned what I had been longing for the longest time to find him. Why?

A smug little part of her mind echoed the answer, but she chose to ignore it.

Sighing, she tried thinking of other things to do. She turned her gaze to the open window in the room. The night was silent and peaceful, nothing like New York. Right now, New York and its desolate streets seemed a thousand miles away. New York...it was the place Bolt ended up, it was the place where he found her-albeit with the help of some annoying pigeons-and it was the place where everything began.

Mittens had been doing a lot of introspection lately. The cross country journey was one she had been reflecting on ever since being adopted by Penny. The whole week had been quite busy: Penny and her mom were busy moving stuff around that they had brought from the studio, Bolt was trying to help out, like he always did, and Rhino was...just Rhino. Her? She was busy trying to get her bearings. Everything was whirling by in a flash, and just like that, she had food, water, a home, and a family. It was a little bit too much to take in a short time.

It was almost satisfactory, living on the streets of the Big Apple, bullying gullible pigeons out of their food. Although there was some kind of sick humour in bluffing completely 'ridonculous' pigeons, Bolt had brought much more than that. In accompanying him, she got to experience real fun, enjoyment and companionship, something she had been lacking for the longest time. His antics had actually brought a genuine smile and laughter to her face while his naïve nature, caring heart and steadfast determination changed her perception of life.

Her thoughts drifted to the night had Bolt had sprung her out from animal control. That night, she had felt so helpless, so hopeless, as pathetic as she had felt in her entire life, second only to how she felt when she was abandoned. Bolt had somehow managed to escape from the truck before it reached the shelter, and it made her sick to her stomach that he had gotten her into that mess, and he managed to get away scot-free, while leaving her with the short straw. She was ready to blame it all on him, but she couldn't.

Because he came back.

He could have so easily left her to rot in the cell, but he risked his own freedom, his chance to find his person to break her out. What could she say? He had gone and done something no one would have done. But then again, Bolt was not just any regular 'someone'.

Mittens shifted under Penny's hand so she could rest in a more comfortable position. The memories of that event came back to mind. One part in particular kept replaying itself in her head. It was right after they escaped from animal control...

* * * * *

Dawn was just breaking, and small streams of light entered the house on wheels. They had just escaped from the animal control building, and had found a means of transport--just in case animal control was still hunting for them, although it was unlikely--It was there that Bolt had shown his vulnerability. He was broken after realising the bitter truth--his life was a lie. It couldn't have gotten much worse than that. It was all quiet, as it should be in the early morning, sans the humming of the engines, and one overly-excited jubilant hamster known as Rhino, who was still ranting about the not-so-great escape.

"I can't believe it! My whole life I've wanted to see a real life superbark!" he started rolling away to who knows where, still caught up in his rant. "You. Are. Legendary!"

Mittens and Bolt exchanged glances as he disappeared. The words, although coming from a small creature, seemed to have a prominent effect on Bolt. He appeared crestfallen as he sat down on the linoleum floor, sighing and turning away. Mittens had unknowingly found herself sympathising with him, having found out everything he believed in was false, just like her belief in her people, which had long since evaporated. She cocked her head to one side, inviting him to continue. He obliged her.

"Mittens? If...er...if I don't chase bad guys, then what am I? I mean..." He sighed. He didn't have to clarify. She understood.

"Ah don't worry about it," she said in a dismissive tone. "Being a regular dog is like, the greatest gig in the world okay?" He still didn't look the least bit convinced. She had to cheer him up somehow.

He did come back for her, after all. She owed him that much.

"Look, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, okay? A little known cat secret." His eyes shifted up, but just ever so slightly. "You know why we hate dogs? Cause we wanna be dogs. We've got dog complexes." It was only half true, really. But if it cheered him up, well, the end justifies the means, she guessed.

"But, what do dogs do?" It seemed like a completely ridiculous question coming from a dog himself, but then again he believed he had superpowers, so Mittens guessed it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume Hollywood messed up his social life.

Well then, I guess it's now my job to show him.

Over the next hour, Mittens tried to recall everything she could about dogs: their behaviour, attitudes, daily activities...just about everything she could think of. Still, she avoided talking about herself personally; nobody needed to know about her past encounter with humans--she didn't want to dredge up old memories that would make her upset.

"...and this is your dog bowl." She said, jumping languidly from one table top to another.

"What is?" Bolt questioned, looking around the kitchen. Probably for some container, Mittens thought. Poor guy, he must have been so restrained.

"This! The entire floor! If it hits the ground, it goes to the hound. How cool is that?" Bolt gaped, while Mittens smirked. It was like telling a young child about the joys and magic of Christmas and Santa Claus.

They moved through the kitchen, the bedrooms, and finally the living room. She sighed blissfully as she sat down and stared at the fireplace.

"...and on cold nights, this, and a ball of yarn? Oh it doesn't get any better than that."

Bolt had gone on enough missions--all faked of course, as he now knew, but still--to know that something was amiss with Mittens, from the way she spoke. It was as if she was hiding something.

"You...er... you seem to know quite a lot about these places." He said, one eyebrow raised questioningly. Mittens' heart skipped a beat and she stiffened. But no matter how she felt on the inside, only a slight widening of her eyes showed it.

"Yeah I did my time in one of these," she said quickly, defusing the allegations as fast as she could. But she was quick to reason it out. "But I'm more of an alley cat at heart you know? Sprung out first chance I got, never looked back," she said, casting a quick glance back at him before turning back to the fireplace. She tried to maintain her composure, but she could feel his penetrating gaze fixate on her, eyebrows still raised. It was obvious he wasn't buying it. Her heartbeat quickened. He was about to ask when-

"Rhino is awesome..." sounded an ominous voice from above. They both turned simultaneously to the air vent. "He's so awesome..."

"How's Rhino doing that? I thought you said there were no such things as superpowers." Bolt questioned accusingly.

Saved by the hyperactive rodent. How ironic.

"It's not a superpower Wags, it's just...oh just follow me." She trotted off trying to explain, Bolt following behind.

"He's beyond awesome. He's...he's be-awesome!" The ball of fur started laughing to himself, impressed with his wordplay, that is, until he noticed the two of them standing right behind him.

"Er...I am be-awesome," he said sheepishly, realising his antics had actually been heard. By his idol, no less. Mittens just rolled her eyes. Bolt was more concerned with the vent, staring at it intently. Funny, I never heard any echoes in any of the vents in Calico's base, he thought. He sniffed at it, and realised that a pleasant breeze was running through it. He blissfully murmured, enjoying the cool wind brush across his face with his eyes closed. Mittens, having noticed this, grinned expectantly.

"I think it's about time I introduced you to the regular dog pièce de résistance."

It was amazing what a dog couldn't know about being a dog. Mittens had found herself tongue-tied when Bolt asked her why dogs fetched sticks and other objects for people. Eventually, she found an answer.

"It's a dog thing, ya know?" Which came to be her standard answer for every question Bolt asked that started with why.

It took a while, but finally Bolt had grasped the concept of "Go fetch the stick". Mittens was feeling rather proud of herself--as a cat--for being able to command a dog to do something at her will. Rhino, trying to be as useful as possible, went looking for another one of the many waffle world maps that lay around.

"Hey Bolt, I've managed to acquire the navigation device you wanted," he said with the map between his teeth.

"Hang on, Rhino," Mittens said, waving the stick in front of a captivated Bolt. His eyes followed every movement of the stick intently as it danced around him.

"Ready Bolt? Fetch!" She swung her front paw as hard as she could. Bolt yipped and immediately leaped into action, bounding off in the direction of the throw.

"Hey cat, why are you asking Bolt to do all this? It seems degrading for a person of calibre as high as his."

From the short time Mittens had spent with Rhino, she had learned something: When trying to explain something to Rhino, you could either spend a long time trying to reason with his logic, or just play along with his little fantasy and get it over with quick. Mittens opted for the latter.

"Well Rhino, Bolt needs to relax a little, you know? Even heroes need breaks. And he seems to be enjoying it." She thought a little. "And as a bonus, it'll keep him in shape while we look for the green-eyed man."

"I guess so," Rhino said, shrugging. And the problem was over.

Bolt learnt fast. Without Mittens having to tell him, he slowly picked up hints on what he was supposed to do. It was like being trained for a mission all over again, only now it didn't involve commands to search and destroy targets and locations. These commands were way more fun and enjoyable. He vaguely remembered Penny trying to play with him like this during his puppy years, but it was cut short when he was "blessed" with his powers and given the solemn duty of protecting his person. If only Penny would play with me like that again...

An hour of fun passed. Although it was not the fun Mittens was normally used to, it sufficed. Bolt seemed a little miffed when she only pretended to throw the stick, but he quickly got over it and returned the favour by playfully bowling her over, which led to both canine and feline laughter filling the warm afternoon.

After Bolt had finally had enough, he sat next to Mittens, who was trying to pinpoint exactly where to go from that point on. Rhino was dancing around the map in his ball, commenting and advising--very loudly--strategies that Bolt could use when confronting the green-eyed man, which made her job significantly harder. She found it annoying, but Bolt didn't seem to mind. In fact, he didn't seem to mind a lot of things. If only I could be that happy-go-lucky, she thought.

"So, if I continue along this road, it'll take me to where Penny is?"

Mittens sighed. "That's the gist of it, yeah. You just need to make sure you're moving west. That's the best way to know that you're on the right track."

Bolt whimpered slightly. "But what if I go the wrong way?"

"Don't worry, if it gets bad, you can eat Rhino."

"Bolt, sir! I have a status report to er...report!" Rhino interrupted, apparently not noticing the snide comment. He stood and saluted his idol.

"Go ahead, Rhino."

"It appears the mobile utility vehicular transport is departing." Mobile what?

"All right. Then I guess it's time to go. You ready, Rhino?"

"Always ready, Bolt! Let us continue on our quest to rescue Penny from the green-eyed man!"

"Great." Bolt slowly turned to Mittens, with a little nervousness in his voice. His ears flattened a little. This was the moment he had been dreading. He knew now that Mittens had no obligation to follow him.

"Um...Mittens? Are you...coming with us?"

Mittens considered it. She had nowhere to stay, nowhere to go. Well, she could always go back to New York and continue tormenting gullible pigeons, but there wasn't much fulfilment in that. Even if it was only for a short while--until Bolt found his person--Mittens wanted to be with him, to spend her time with the big lug. But what will happen to me after he finds his person? She shook her head. She would cross that bridge when she came to it. For now, she wanted to enjoy life, and being with Bolt was the best way to do it.

"Sure, Wags. Why not?"

His ears shot up in delight. "Really? Thanks so much Mittens!" He jumped on her and knocked her over, licking her all over her face in doggy delight.

"Oh-hey! Bolt, you're getting slobber all over me."

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, climbing off of her.

As they boarded the mobile utility vehicular transport, Mittens took one last glance back at the road that led to New York. No turning back now. She was leaving behind everything to accompany two complete strangers on some absurd odyssey, both who she thought were mildly lacking mental faculties.

And that was just the beginning. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

* * * * *

Mittens knew that it was Bolt's fault that she had been literally dragged across the country while being battered and bruised in the process-being smashed into a mailbox and jumping on and off moving vans and trains were just a few examples. But then again, it was also his fault that she now had a home with a family to love and care for her.

What an incredible paradox.

The bed shifted, producing a creaking sound that snapped Mittens out of her reverie. Bolt was shifting uncomfortably, making soft whimpering noises with his eyes screwed shut in apparent discomfort. Worried, Mittens extended a paw to his shoulder, but quickly retracted it when he flinched and started squirming. After a few seconds though, he drifted back off into peaceful sleep. Mittens wondered what would happen if she told him the answer to his question.

Would he...feel the same way?

Whatever the case, the question was giving her a headache. She tried to push aside the question and try her very best-although she expected it to fail-to get some hours of rest.

After all, there was always tomorrow to figure it out.