Continued...

Aphrodite awoke to find herslf being hugged by Pounce. He was so warm and smelt so darn good . She thought her sister could be right. That he really did love her and had specail feelings toward her. " Good Morning, Beautiful. How'd you sleep?"Pounce asked her in a whispered voice.

" I'm Tired!" She told him, " MORE SLEEP!" She yelled.

He lauphed lightly and said fine, and they slept for a couple more hours. She awoke first and giggeled quietly.

"What?"Pounce asked her sleepily.

"Nothing, Pounce, it's just I thought you'd never love me the way I Do you." She said quietly.

"Well to tell you the truth, I thought it would be the other way around. I never ever thought you could love a troublesome tom like myself..."he lauphed lightly.

" Of course I love you , I always have..... From the first time I layed eyes on you." she said and kissed him and then fell asleep again in his arms infront of the burning fire waiting for the sun to come out and welcome them into the new day.

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

" Alonzo are you happy with Jemima, I mean she is a younger queen and all and I was just wondering ....Pounce asked Alonzo.

"Of course, I love her with all my heart and would do anything to protect her."Alonzo said sounding confused.

"Why?"Alonzo asked his brother.

"I'm thinking about asking Aphrodite to be my mate but she's about as young as Jemima is to you, so you know little brother needs advice he goes to big brother...."

" Awwwwww, finnaly a chance to help my little baby brother?" Alonzo asked.

" Yea, yea, yea, Alonzo are you going to help me or just tease me?" Pounce asked his brother.

" Well, you know what Pounce all I have to do is ask you one question and that will be the answer, Pounce."Alonzo said confently while looking out the window at Jemima and whisteling. She giggeled.

"Alonzo, shut up!" She yelled at him while lauphing at him.

" Yea well what is the question?" Pounce asked him.

" Do you love her?" Alonzo said. Pounce looked at him bewildered.........

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~~*~*~

" Soooo, Pounce who are you going to ask to be your mate at the Jellicle Ball?" Tumble asked him.

" Who are you going to?" Pounce asked him.

" Why does it matter? I asked you first."Tumble said.

" Just tell me!"Pounce kind of yelled.

" I was kind of thinking about asking Aphrodite....." Tumble said and kind of blushed.

"HaHa, very funny Tumble, no really I mean it who you goin.........."Pounce got cut off.

"No i'm serious, I really like her and she's really sweet and she hangs around me alot."Tumble said.

" Oh well I was kind of thinking about asking Ecetera, you know if someone else doesn't ask me first..."Pounce said.

He was tearing up inside. How could Tumble, well I mean how could he have known. *Well he should have known!* Pounce thought to himself. He put on a fake smile and turned around and walked to find Aphrodite. He had to tell her that he could not ask her to be his mate. It could hurt Tumble. He didn't want to hurt his best friend's heart. He saw her by her friends.

" Um, Jemi, Vicki, could I speak to Aphrodite alone?" Pounce asked them. Of course Aphrodite and the girls thought he was going to ask her to be his mate. He knew it. She had that sparkle in her eyes when she was really excited.

"Aphrodite, I love you , you know I do......" Pounce said slowly.

" Uh huh......" Aphrodite said smiling trying not to be too excited.

" But........... Aphrodite I can't ask you to be my mate.........."Pounce said with tears in his eyes.

" But........Why? Is there.........Somone else? Pounce are you not telling me something?" She said crying.

"There is someone else..........But not for me."Pounce said.

" I'll miss you, but you'll know soon why I cant do this........." Pounce kissed her forehead looked deep into her eyes and said, " I love you, you should always know that." Then he walked away.

" Pounce, I could never love anyone but you, Dont leave me.............. You can't leave me." Aphrodite cried. She turned her back to the sun and walked away with tears in her eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why do you think he did it?" Demeter asked Munk

" Well, I don't know.... I know he loved her and that she loved him but why he didn't want to be her mate that's a different story tottaly..."Munkustrap said.

"Well, she's heart broken, that's for sure. I'm so mad at Pounce for doing it, I could just kill him!"Demeter said.

" Sweetie, remember, It's as hard on him as it is for her.He loves her I just know he has a really good reason."Munk told Demi to calm her down.

" Well, he better! He better not just hurt her for no good reason. She is my baby sister." Demi said coldly.

~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Look at her over there. Just laying around day dreaming. I wonder what Pounce said to her. I hope she's going to be alright."Jemi said.

"Well she was crying for like over 2 days and she is just like gross looking.....Talk about not grooming yourself for a week. Ewwww!"

"Vicki, it is not all about your looks."Jemi told her.

" Well you just say that because you have a mate who will do it for you." Vicki told her and giggeled while she walked away.

" Aphrodite, are you okay?"Jemi asked her .

" How can you ask a stupid question like that? Im bloody crying all over the place and Pounce doesn't love me and didn't ever give me a freaking reason why he doesn't!"Aphrodite cried. Jemi went to hug her best friend. She was so small. Jemi use to be the youngest kitten, until Aphrodite came along. They had grown a very close friend ship. And when one of them was hurt the other one could kind of feel it or sense it and if they felt kind of hurt or in pain they could sense it too. Right now Jemi was feeling hurtfulness coming out of Aphrodite like an open wound.

" Ditey it will be okay.... I mean there are other handsome toms out there, right here in the junkyard even, who could love you......"Jemi told her.

"Jemi, I know he loves me, I know he does but...... There's somthing or someone in the way and i'll have to find out what or who it could be....."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~**

" Pounce! Wake up! GET OUT OF BED! You've been laying in here pouting for a week!!"Tumble giggeled while he tried pulling the covers off of him.

" Leave me alone Tumble! Your the cause of Aphrodite hating me and her sister on my back all the time, well I hope you are going to be happy with her! Happier then i'll ever be!"Pounce screamed at him.

" Pounce what the bloody heck are you talking about? I asked you who you liked and when you said it wasn't her I was heart broken because I thought you liked Ecetera and I thought you knew that I likes her so if you were going to ask her to be your mate the only kitten left would be Ditey so that's just who I picked......"Tumble told him.

" Good Heavyside you've got to be kidding me. I was just saying that because......Good lord I have got to find Ditey!" Pounce said.

"Okay, nice talking to you Pounce, always is a pleasure!" Tumble called happily after him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

" Ditey don't cry! Please don't cry......"Demi told her sister.

"Demi, may I speak to Aphrodite alone for a moment?" Pounce asked. He had just walked in seeing her crying.

" What are you going to do this time?"Demeter asked him in concern.

"I'm going to do something I should have done 3 weeks ago....." Pounce answered her with the thing that came to mind first. He kind of blushed after wards. Demeter kissed her sister and said good-bye.

"What did you want to say to me? That you were sorry? Maybe it's that you led me to believe that you loved me? Hmmm??" Aphrodite asked him.

"Yes....., and that I never stoped loving you.....ever. How could you believe that? You know how much I love you and I always will....."Pounce said with the sound of hope and caring in his voice.

"Really......, Well then why did you..."She paused, she was afficially confused. He loved her, he did'nt, he loved her, he didn't . It was like a Bloody flower for a jellicle cat's sake! "Wait i'm confused, you do love me love, but you can't be my mate?"

" I can now! That was the problem! Tumble said he was going to ask you to be his mate so I couldn't hurt my best frineds feelings....." Pounce said sounding confused him self but he continued," Aphrodite , he only said that be cause he thought that I loved the girl he loved so you would be the only one left and Tumble thought it would be only right when mate-picking time came so, you know...."

"So you do love me?"Aphrodite asked him with care and love in her eyes once again.

"With all my heart, and I would like to know if you will be my...................."Pounce paused. What was he about to do? Ask a girl to be his mate he had known for such a short time? But, he loved her that's all that mattered.

"I would like to know if you want to be my mate." Pounce asked giggeling at himself for his queer sounding way of asking her. She also giggeled at him and said to him with tears in her eyes *Finnaly * she thought to herself.

" Well, I don't know......Maybe....."Aphrodite said lauphing at herself for teasing him so.

"Well, here is a little something for helping you decide...." Pounce then kissed her and it was'nt just a kiss, it was a test, of trust and love and passion. Why had it taken so long, they asked themselves, this, was just to good to be true and it could be happening every day for the rest of their jellicle lives....

" Yes, I will be your mate....." They kissed again....and they went to his house and rested there. Aphrodite missed his silk and flannel pillows. They felt so good on her back.

" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... These feel soooo good...."Aphrodite said

" I missed you not laying by me at night......" Pounce said. Then he kissed her and he held on to her like never before, they both knew not where their lives were going to take them in the next few years, months, weeks or maybe even days. Neither cared, they were together, finnaly together and were happy and as long as they were to gether, they always would be......

New Chapters to come.......