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A LEOPARD'S TAIL

1. Part Thirteen

Peter sighed in relaxation as he dropped his bags on the floor of his apartment and flopped down onto the sofa, eyes closed.

"Home sweet home, huh?" Karen asked with a grin. Peter opened one eye to look at her, and smiled back.

"Yep, it's good to be home." He said with another sigh. He had to admit though, his trip had gone surprisingly well.

"Well, I think that went pretty well." Karen said as if reading his mind. She sat down on the couch besides him a bit more gracefully than he had. Peter nodded in agreement.

"It went REAL well." He said seriously. "I just wasn't sure... How they'd take all of this, you know?" Karen nodded her head sympathetically.

"Well, they seemed to accept it, once they got over their shock. I have to admit I'm a bit surprised. Once they came to grips with it, they just took everything in stride..." Karen shook her head a bit in disbelief.

"Ahhh, yes, the usual four stage Hoffman reaction: Shock, denial, acceptance, and then motherly advice on how your live your life." Peter said wryly, grinning. "I'm going to be afraid to pick up my phone for the next week, waiting for my mother to call and demand I see a doctor!"

Karen laughed as Peter rolled his eyes hopelessly. "But I thought you had finally gotten her to give up on that..."

"Who, my mother? Never!" Peter chuckled. "She never gives up. She just makes a temporary withdrawal while thinking up new lines of attack. "

Karen smiled and patted his shoulder. "Well, after meeting your mother, all I can say is this: this battle is all yours, Custer!" After a moment, the laughter died off, and Peter reached down for the brown paper wrapped package he'd found in his mail when he checked it before coming up to his apartment.

"What is it?" Karen asked curiously as Peter examined the box.

"I don't know, but it's from my sister." He said, reading the return address. He held the box up by his head and shook it lightly, but didn't head anything rattle inside. He sniffed his nose and a curious look came over his face. "It smells a bit odd though. Not bad, but.. Odd."

Peter quickly ripped off the brown paper enclosing the object, revealing a small box with a card attached. Peter opened the card and read it allowed.

"To my big, fuzzy, little brother" He rolled his eyes at what seemed to be his sister's new nickname for him, causing Karen to laugh.

"Just an extra little something for you for your birthday. Enjoy! Love, Kristy"

"Well, that was short..." Karen said. Peter nodded.

"Yeah. And she must have sent it before we all left for our visit. I wonder what's in it?" Peter held the box up to his face and sniffed it a few times, an odd look on his face, as if he were tasting a glass of wine, and trying to decide it's vintage.

"Well, are you going to sit there and smell it all night, or are you going to open it?" Karen asked in exasperation.

"All right, all right!" Peter chuckled and opened the box. The contents were wrapped up in a piece of tissue paper, which he quickly opened and pushed aside. Underneath the paper was a large pile of green leaves of some sort.

"Huh?" Peter said aloud, looking at the box in confusion. "What's this supposed to be?" He shook the box around a bit, moving the leaves around, trying to see if there was anything else inside. Peter blinked a few times, and shook his head slightly, nose sniffling.

"Here, let me see." Karen said, reaching her hand out. Peter handed over the box, and Karen examined the contents, picking out a few leaves and looking at them closely, then sniffing him.

"Why, this is.. This is CATNIP!" She said with a laugh. She shook her head in amusement, laughing. "Some joke, huh Peter? Like that's going to do anything to yo..." Karen looked up at Peter and blinked, mouth opening slightly in shock.

"What?" Peter asked, a bit distracted. He shook his head slightly, feeling a bit dizzy, and suddenly noticed his face was turning into a bit of a muzzle. He shook his head and concentrated for a moment, changing back, and cleared his throat, blushing faintly in embarrassment.

"You don't mean that this stuff actually has some effect.... Does it?" She said, mouth still open a bit, looking at him. After a moment she raised her hand to her mouth, trying to hold her giggling in, spurts of laughter leaking past her hand.

Peter sat up a bit straighter, trying to salvage his dignity. "I don't see what's so funny." He said as seriously as he could manage. Karen managed to contain herself a moment longer, then burst out laughing, leaning against him as she sucked in breath to laugh. Peter tried to maintain a stoic appearance, and Karen's laughter slowed. Until she looked up at his artificially cold, hard face, which was now turning slightly red in embarrassment, and the gales of laughter broke forth once more. This time Peter couldn't resist any longer, and joined in as well.

"Well..." Karen began, laughter finally subsiding. "I guess I should head back home now and unpack." A few more spurts of laughter escaped her lips as she spoke, wiping away tears of laughter. Peter nodded his head, laughing slightly himself.

"I guess so.. Er.. And could you please take that with you?" He said after a moment, gesturing at the box, a bit red faced. Karen looked on the verge of breaking into laughter again, but managed to hold it back this time. Not trusting her voice, she merely nodded her head.

As they stood at the door, Karen getting ready to leave, Peter cleared his throat slightly.

"Thanks for helping me with my parents, and, well, just thanks for everything." Peter said seriously. Karen smiled at him, a small twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

"It was nice meeting your parents. I think maybe I'd like to do it again some time." She said with a large smile. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then ran her hand down the side of his face, turned around, and stepped into the hallway.

Peter just stood there for a while, rubbing his face, grinning foolishly.

"Morning Peter!"

"Hi Peter!"

"Heya Peter! How was your weekend?"

Peter smiled and waved back to his coworkers as he walked into the office, answering each greeting in kind, smiling cheerfully. He let out a happy sigh as he sat down at his small desk with a sheaf of papers.

He had reason to be cheerful. It was a wonderful Friday afternoon, and he was still exuberant over last weekend. His parents had taken his news far better than he could possible have hoped, he felt a weight off his shoulders at not having to keep secrets from his family anymore, their meeting with Karen had gone great, and he and Karen were.. Well... He really wasn't quite sure exactly where they were going just yet, but he thought he rather liked it...

Peter thoughts were interrupted when he finally noticed that Brooke was standing by the entrance to his cubicle, leaning against the wall, smiling faintly.

"Well, you seemed a bit out of it. Having a nice day dream?"

"Just thinking." Peter responded with a smile, leaning back in his chair. "So, what brings you to my kingdom?" He asked, making a grand sweeping gesture around his cubicle.

"Actually, I came by to ask you for a favor."

"Go ahead and ask away!" He said with a grin

"Well, I've got some... Personal business to handle this weekend, so I won't be home." Brooke's face seemed to twitch into a grimace for a bare moment, before she continued normally. "And I was wondering if... Your apartment allows pets, right?" Peter blinked and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Pets?"

"Peter, is something wrong?"

Karen looked at Peter's face in concern as he opened the door to the apartment. His face was a bit haggard, his hair and clothes were slightly disarrayed, and he looked dead tired.

"Hi Karen." Peter responded without much energy.

"Are you okay Peter??" She demanded, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Wordlessly Peter turned around in the doorway and Karen slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Hanging from Peter's back was a small orange and yellow calico kitten, holding onto his shirt with its claws. The kitten looked up at Karen and meowed happily, obviously enjoying its piggyback ride. Karen stared at the sight for a moment, hand finally slipping from her mouth.

Laughter echoed down the hall for quite some time.

"First the catnip, and now this. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to kill me with laughter!" Karen grinned hugely, sitting on the sofa besides Peter, petting the kitten which was sitting on her lap, purring happily.

Peter rolled his eyes slightly, grinning a bit despite himself. "I don't think it's THAT funny..."

"Oh, but it is!" Karen replied with a laugh. "Now then, do you want to explain where this little guy came from?" She asked, still petting the cat.

"Would you believe the stork brought him?" Peter asked with a grin. Karen just arched an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. "I'm taking care of him for a friend from work, Brooke. She's going away for the weekend for personal reasons of some kind. I really didn't pry into her affairs. Anyway, it was kind of sudden, and she needed someone to take care of her kitten, soooo.. Oh, and his name is 'Chaser'"

"Chaser, huh?" Karen scratched the kitten's head. "Well, he sure seems friendly enough."

Peter groaned. "Oh, you have no idea. Brooke dropped him off this afternoon, and I haven't had a moment's peace since. The silly thing follows me around wherever I go!" Karen laughed and shook her head.

"Awwww. But he probably just wants to grow up big and strong like his uncle Peter here! Isn't that right?" Karen asked, addressing the kitten, who lifted his head up for a moment to look around before laying back down. Karen laughed and Peter just chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Be that as it may..." Peter's sentence was interrupted by a sudden yawn. "He's still been running me ragged, getting into everything, and driving me crazy." As if taking Peter's cue, Chaser stretched himself out and yawned hugely himself.

"Well, at least he's house trained, right?" Karen asked, trying not to grin. Peter nodded.

"Yeah. Brooke said she'd pretty much gotten him house broken, and she gave me his litter box and everything, of course. At least I haven't had any problems there!" Chaser stood back up in Karen's lap and mewed, stepping over and laying himself down on Peter's lap, purring. With a resigned sigh, Peter began petting the kitten. Karen giggled slightly.

"Well, he certainly seems to like you. You haven't changed in front of him yet, have you?" Peter shook his head.

"Nope. You know I only really change before I go to sleep."

"Just wondering." Karen replied, thinking for a moment. "I just hope your changing doesn't spook him too much." Peter seemed a bit surprised.

"You know, that never really occurred to me."

"Hmmm.. I wonder if he realizes that you're kind of like him. You DO seem to have something of an affinity for felines." Karen said with a grin, watching him pet Chaser.

"Yeah, well, so do you." Peter joked, seeming a tiny bit uncomfortable with the subject.

"Well, you're obviously pretty tired. Why don't you go change now, and we'll see what happens?"

"Well..." Peter said, not sounding overly thrilled with the idea.

"Please?" Karen asked, batting her eyelashes at him. Peter looked at her face for a few moments, then laughed and shook his head.

"No fair! You know I can't say no to you when you do that thing with your eyes!" He said with a chuckle.

"Oh really?" Karen's eyes twinkled with amusement and mischief. "I'll have to remember that...."

Peter groaned. "Me and my big mouth." With a small smile he picked Chaser up and put him down next to Karen. The kitten seemed a little put off as having his back scratch interrupted, but quickly settled back down when Karen took over. Peter nodded at her, and headed for his bedroom to change.

A few moments later, when the door to Peter's room slowly creaked open, Karen tried to keep one eye on Chaser and one on Peter as he stepped into sight. At first the kitten didn't even seem to notice Peter as he stepped into the living room and walked towards Karen, but finally he looked up from his petting to see him. Karen watched as Chaser stared at Peter for a moment, tilting his head to the side as if trying to see him from a different angle. Meanwhile, Peter calmly walked over to the sofa, hopping up onto the same stop he was before, sitting upright with his front legs, resting on his hind legs.

Chaser watches him curiously as he sat down, then stood up and walked over to stick his face by Peter's fur to sniff him. After sniffing him for a moment, Chaser's curiosity seemed to have been satisfied, and he meowed cheerfully, lying down on the sofa between Peter and Karen.

"Well, that didn't seem to bother him at all." Karen noted with a smile. "I guess he recognized you." Peter shrugged his shoulders as best he could. Karen picked the kitten up and put him back down on her lap. Chaser squirmed around a bit when he was picked up, but seemed content enough to lay there and accept the attention he seemed to acknowledge as his just due.

Peter sat there and watched Karen pet the kitten for a few minutes. Finally Peter leaned forward a bit, rubbing his head against Karen's arm. Karen looked at him and chuckled.

"Oh, so now YOU want some attention too, huh?" She asked with a grin. "Well, I've only got two hands, so you'll just have to wait your turn."

Peter looked at her for a moment, then he looked down at the kitten in her lap. He watched for a moment as Chaser purred and rolled onto his back, curling his legs up a bit and wiggling back and forth. With a small grin he laid himself out on the sofa and rolled over onto his back, tilting his head to watch Karen.

"Oh Peter..." Karen said, restraining a giggle as he imitated Chaser. "You really ARE trying to kill me off with laughter, aren't you?" In response, Peter curled up his paws a bit, and started to wiggle around on the sofa a bit, trying to get comfortable. A spurt of laughter escaped Karen's lips as she reached a hand over to scratch his head. "All right, all right, you win!" She said with a laugh. "Sorry kitten, but your friend has dibs on my attention..." Karen carefully picked the purring Chaser up off her lap, placing him on the arm rest of the sofa where he'd be out of the way. The kitten took it all in stride, sitting down and starting to lick his paws clean. "Now, as for YOU..." Karen said, smiling and wagging a finger at Peter. Peter did his best to look contrite, failing miserably.

"Come here..." Karen wrapped an arm around Peter's neck and gently pulled him closer, using her other hand to scratch his head. Peter quickly began to make that odd, almost purring sound he made to express happiness, his tail swaying back and forth. Soon he was laying his head down on Karen's lap with his eyes mostly closed as she smiled and scratched his sides.

Now here's something you don't get to do at the zoo. Karen thought to herself with a mental chuckle as Peter slowly but surely began to nod off under her care. There are definitely advantages to having a giant cat for a boyfriend. Karen paused to think for a moment, still scratching reflexively. Boyfriend? The word still seemed a bit odd to her mind. She'd never really had a boyfriend before. Oh, she'd had a few friends who happened to be boys, and a good number would-be boyfriends, but she'd never really had anyone she could really apply the word to. But now...

Karen laughed softly as she looked down at the sleeping leopard laying next to her, tail still swaying and still making that purring sound, even in his sleep. She slowly and carefully lifted his head up from her lap, and slid away from him, laying his head back down on the sofa. Peter shifted a bit in his sleep, making a small whimpering sound before resuming normal sleep. Karen breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up and got off the sofa, dusting herself off.

"Good night Peter." She whispered to the sleeping form. "Pleasant dreams." Leaning forward, she planted a light kiss on his forehead. Peter wiggled around a bit in his sleep again, making a purring sound before finally settling down for good.

Straightening up again, Karen suddenly noticed Chaser, still lying on the sofa's armrest, watching her curiously. She smiled as the calico kitten and wagged a finger at him.

"Now you take care of him, you hear?" She said with a smile, gesturing at Peter. She shook her head in amusement and walked towards the door, picking up her pocketbook on the way to the door. When she turned around to check on Peter one last time, She had to fight to keep from laughing loudly enough to wake someone up.

Sprawled out on the sofa lay Peter, asleep, one hind leg dangling off the edge of the cushions. And then, resting on top of his yellow and black fur was another small ball of fur, a young calico kitten, dwarfed by the size of his pillow/friend. Karen shook her head in disbelief. If only I had a camera. She thought as she shook her head. With one last glance backward, she opened the front door, stepped through, and closed it behind her.

Peter yawned hugely as he reached for his cup of coffee, taking a sip and then scratching the side of his face with his hand. There was an almost unnoticeably light coating of yellow fur mingled in with the stubble on his face, due to Peter's lack of concentration. And the reason for that lack of concentration was currently sitting on the other end of the table, staring at him intently.

Peter yawned again. He'd had a busy morning, what with his little friend having gotten up before him, and deciding to go exploring. Peter had awoken to the sound of Chaser hissing like a steam whistle with his fur bristling and ears laid back against his head, and a kitchen covered with flour.

How'd that little mongrel get the cupboard door open anyway? Peter asked himself for the ninth time. "Curious little guy, aren't you?" Peter asked his breakfast companion with a chuckle. It had taken Peter quite some time to dust all of the white flower out of the calico kitten's mottled orange and yellow fur. A few isolated spots of white still stuck out, but Peter figured Chaser would eventually dust those out himself, on the next adventure he decided to embark on, whatever that might be. Peter didn't want to even think about it.

With a small sigh of relief, Peter took another sip of coffee, and picked his newspaper up off the table, opening it up and reading the headlines. Finally, a moment of peace and quiet. Peter thought to himself as he sat there. This lasted for a whole ten seconds before the bottom of his paper began to rustle around, and a small furry head poked out from under the middle of the paper. Peter sighed and shook his head.

"What do you want now?" Peter asked the cat in exasperation. The kitten just lay there, on his back, head slid under the bottom of the paper, staring at him.

"Oh, all right!" Peter said in defeat, with an amused shake of his head. "Come on over here." Putting his paper aside for a moment, Peter picked Chaser up, and placed him on the table in front of him, facing forward.

"Happy now?" The kitten turned his head to look at him, and meowed an affirmative, causing Peter to chuckle and shake his head again. Picking up his paper, Peter went back to reading the news, looking down at the kitten every few seconds to keep an eye on him.

To Peter's vast amusement, Chaser stared intently at the newspaper, as if trying to figure out what Peter found so interesting about it. Every few second he tilted his head to the other side, as if changing his angle of vision would allow him to understand how these sheets of paper could be anywhere near as entertaining as a rubber ball, or dangling piece of string.

After a few minutes, Chaser's attention wavered from the paper. The curious kitten watched attentively as Peter picked up his cup of coffee, took a sip, and put if back down on the table. Watching Peter drink, Chaser quickly concluded that anything good enough for Peter was good enough for him, and walked over to the coffee mug. Peter watched in amusement as Chaser slowly stuck his head out, putting his nose over the coffee and sniffing. The kitten quickly pulled his head back, and shook it back and forth, trying to rid his nose of the smell. He then proceeded to give Peter a look that obviously translated to 'How can you DRINK this stuff?'

Peter laughed and shrugged. "Hey, just because YOU don't like it doesn't mean everyone thinks it smells bad!" He replied to the kitten's look. Then he shook his own head, rubbing his temples.

"Great... Now I'm holding conversations with pets. Is that normal, or am I just going nuts?" Peter asked himself. "And now I'm talking to myself. Yep., I'm definitely going nuts." Chaser, apparently satisfied with his examination of early morning human eating rituals, meowed and hopped down off the table, heading towards the living room. The kitten stopped for a moment to look back at Peter pointedly before vanishing out of view.

Peter shook his head and took another sip of coffee, not leaving his seat. He's just one little kitten. How much trouble could a one pound ball of fluffy fur get into anyway? Peter thought that question over for a moment, then quickly put his coffee cup down, and stood up.

"Hey! Hold it! Wait up!" Peter called out, following the kitten into the living room, hoping he was there before Chaser ha managed to get himself into any major trouble.

It looked like it was going to be a long day.

"So, how's your cat sitting going?" Karen asked over the phone. Peter groaned and rolled his eyes in response."Let me put I to you this way. I've had to duct tape all of the cupboards shut to keep him out of them."

"Well, you know the sayings about cats and curiosity..." Karen said in an amused tone of voice.

"Yeah, but come on! Just fifteen minutes ago I had to help him get his head out of one of my shoes!" The sound of Karen's laughter echoed across the line.

"Oh Peter, I wish I could have seen that! It must have been priceless!" Karen said, still laughing. Peter made a 'Hmph' sound.

"Maybe to you! But you didn't have to convince a very agitated kitten that your best pair of dress shoes aren't a threat to life and limb!" Karen started laughing again, and Peter smiled a bit in amusement. "Well, at least his roaming has settled down a bit now."

"Oh, really?" Karen asked after a moment of laughing.

"Yeah. Now instead he just follows me around like a shadow all the time." Peter looked down from his seat by the phone at the small calico kitten sitting attentively on the floor in front of him. "I swear, I can't even yawn without him imitating me!"

"Well, he's probably just taken you as a role model." Karen replied. "After all, he IS just a kitten, and there are no other cats around to learn from..." Peter sighed, then grinned down at Chaser, who meowed back at him.

"Well, I guess I can live with that." Peter said into the phone. "Just as long as he doesn't expect me to teach him how to turn doorknobs or open windows. No place in the city would be safe from this little terror then!"

Chaser just tilted his head sideways in curiosity as Peter laughed into the phone.

"Oh, hi Brooke!" Peter said as he opened the door to his apartment. He blinked and did a bit of a double take, looking at Brooke's face. She looked a bit haggard and tired.

"Is something wrong?" Peter asked, a bit of concern on his face. Brooke quickly smiled and shook her head.

"No, everything is fine." She said, acting like her normal, cheery self. Peter motioned for her to step inside, and she followed him through the door. "I hope Chaser didn't cause you TOO much trouble while I was away..."

"Oh, no, no trouble at all really." Peter said, mind a bit preoccupied as he looked around the room to see where Chaser had gotten off to. " Chaser! Come over here." Peter called out.

"Somehow I find that a bit hard to believe." Brooke replied with a grin. "I know how much trouble he can get into around the house."

"He really wasn't THAT bad." Peter said with a smile. "A bit curious, but what can you expect?" Just then Chaser stepped around the corner of the entrance to the kitchen and spotted his human. He shot across the intervening space like a rocket and leapt at Brooke, who through sheer luck managed to catch the purring little ball of fur.

Brooke laughed and scratched Chaser's head as the kitten snuggled against her chest, purring happily.

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too little guy." Brooke said to the small feline.

Within a few minutes, Peter had Chaser's litter box emptied and returned to Brooke, who was standing in the doorway, holding the box in one hand, and Chaser in the other. Chaser was half climbing up her shirt to peer curiously over her shoulder at everything around him.

"Thanks for taking such good care of Chaser for me." Brooke said with a smile.

"Oh, it was my pleasure really." Peter replied, grinning. "Guess I'll see you in the office tomorrow then." Brooke nodded her head.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Peter. And thanks again!" Brooke turned her head to Chaser, who was stretched out across her shirt. "Come on you, it's time to go home. She said affectionately. The kitten rubbed its head against her cheek, purring, as she walked towards the door.

"See you tomorrow Brooke! See you later Chaser!" Peter said with a small grin, waving at Brooke's back. Chaser, head poking up over Brooke's shoulder, waved a paw back at him, and let out a farewell meow as Brooke turned to walk down the hall.

Peter couldn't help but smile as he closed the door behind them.