The Universe's Mixer

Fred had had fun, for the most part, but she was feeling a little down as she walked home. She hadn’t planned on someone walking home with her, so the walking home alone part really wasn’t all that surprising or unexpected. Yet, there were times she missed being in a group, waking up and walking down the stairs to find people who cared about her. They might not have “loved” her, but they certainly cared. Okay, so some might have loved her.

If asked, she’d say she was happy for Dinah and Harry; they were champions, and champions were meant to be together. But, that didn’t mean she didn’t feel a small twinge inside. When she got back to the office, she sat down on the couch, rather than going down to her/Angel’s basement apartment and stared at the box. The night had been fun, sort of. Being able to time travel had been fun, even if a little frustrating because she couldn’t quite figure it out, and she knew that if she wasn’t careful she could upset the space-time continuum which could be an issue even in the City where space and time weren’t normal. Seeing Lorne had certainly lifted her spirits a little, but it wasn’t the same.

She continued to stare at the box then blinked as it decided to come open. “Oh.” ( Her brows furrowed as she pulled out a small piece of origami paper and some instructions. )

She was home from the ball, the interesting night she'd had, and she couldn't even begin to sort through everything that had happened. Her mind was still reeling from it. There were too many questions, not enough answers. Especially for somebody like herself, who made it their life to find the answers.

But she'd had fun. She supposed that was really all that mattered.

Jennifer moved through the house and discovered Jake absent. And so were some of his things. It made her worry. Jake was her best friend, and she didn't want him to be alone out in this strange City. Actually, if she were completely honest, Jake made her feel safer. He had helped to make this apartment into a home. She felt wrong without him here. Jennifer wondered if his missing things meant he was staying overnight with a friend, or if he was gone for good.

Simon. She would ask Simon. He was the last person who had talked to Jake. Which made her worry a little more.

She decided to not panic or freak out until she'd had a chance to talk to Simon. It would also give Jake time to come home if he'd just gone to stay with a friend. Jennifer hoped that the worry churning away in her gut was nothing. She wanted to ignore the instinct that she normally paid attention to. She wanted Jake to come home, happy, and tell her that he'd met a new girl cat. Or that he'd stayed on his ship for a little while so that he could try to fix it. She didn't want to hear anything else.

As she cleaned out her little handbag of the items she might need to have for work, she discovered the small box. She sat on the couch and opened it, glad for the distraction. Inside she found a piece of perfectly square paper and a note that said make a wish. Sighing, Jennifer followed the folding directions she found on the other side of the note and after a few missteps discovered she'd made an elephant.

"Make a wish, huh." Jennifer thought about it. What did she want in life that would require a wish? She had a job she loved. She had a boyfriend who was beginning to break out of his shell. Her best friend, while currently missing, was capable of taking care of himself in the long run. Wishing Jake home might mean taking him away from something that was making him happy, and she couldn't do that. Finally, she laughed. "I know what would take a wish. I wish I could understand Charlie better. Really understand him. Sometimes, he just confuses me."

Jennifer set the elephant aside and went to bed.

Ted had spent his morning looking at bookstores for cat books. He had only bought one, but from what he'd gleaned from others, cats weren't exactly the hardest thing in the world to take care of. They were independent. They had very basic needs like food and water and somewhere to use the bathroom. The rest of it they could really take care of themselves. And from what he could tell, from the books, they could actually take care of all of it themselves, but if you wanted to keep one as a pet, the nicer you were the more likely you would reap the benefits of cat love.

Though he saw that it was easy and though Charlie seemed to have confidence, Ted still worried about having to take care of another living thing. But the house did seem pretty empty now. He'd gotten used to having two women and a wolf running around, and now it was back to him and Charlie and nobody else. Not even a horse.

About mid-afternoon, Ted decided that he was just going to go for it. He was going to find a cat and take it home. His first thought was a human society or pound situation, where he would be rescuing a cat from certain doom, but the City didn't seem to have one of those. Which made a certain sort of sense, he supposed. All the animals here were wanted, if by nothing else, than by the City itself. The next step was a pet store. But he didn't find any cats there that he bonded with. They were all kittens, really, and Ted wasn't sure he was ready for a kitten. Kittens were small and fragile.

The last stop he made, and he'd decided he would be giving up if he didn't find a cat here, was some place called Kelly's Kitty Korner. Ted would never understand why businesses would willingly take on the triple K initials, it was like nobody really thought about the implications of it. As if the KKK were something in the very distant past instead of rampant everywhere. He'd met a few members in prison, and they weren't exactly pleasant people. He also detested the use of the K instead of a C in corner, but that was really just being nitpicky.

Inside there were cats of all shapes and sizes. Ted was a little overwhelmed. But Kelly, the owner and manager, put him at ease. She said that all the cats were super friendly and super lovey and really super. Ted wondered if she'd eaten many paint chips as a child. But she was correct. Cats came up to him left and right, smelling him, letting him pet them. As each cat had its turn, Ted became more comfortable with the idea.

Then a very fluffy white cat sauntered up to him. She jumped into his lap and laid down, purring louder than anything he'd heard in his life.

"Oh, that's Lucy-Belle." Kelly told him. "She just wandered in one day. I think she likes you."

"Yeah." Ted nodded. "I think I like her too."

The night had been interesting. Charlie'd gotten to dance, gotten to drink, gotten to look and feel like he hadn't a care in the world. It was as if he had never gone to prison, or so his reflection told him. He was young again. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten to dance with the woman he was rather certain was Jennifer, his partner. It would have been fun to get her reaction, and perhaps to try and deduce why he did indeed look so very young.

He went home, smiling. He smiled a good bit, but this was the smile of a man who'd gotten his youth back and found that he didn't really need or miss it. Of course, he wouldn't mind having a few less aches, but he didn't feel the need to go back in time as if he hadn't lived through it all and learned.

The detective was quiet, or tried to be, as he got home; he didn't want to wake Ted. He got ready for bed, and as he was settling in to listen to one of his tapes, the box he'd set on his night stand opened. He looked at it carefully, not touching it until he thought it was safe.

"Make a wish. What could I wish for? What couldn't I wish for? Wishes are not like fishes, even if they sound alike. They're not like horses. Though they can be slippery like fish and speed away, even a little flighty like horses." Charlie looked at the paper and started folding, ignoring the directions. "Wishing is part of the human psyche, so if I do not wish, does that make me non-human? But wishing is desiring, and desiring is not undesirable."

He continued to fold until he had a boat/hat. It was a simple thing that many people learned when they were younger. "I suppose if I were to wish for something. I would wish that I could tell my partner how I feel." He smiled sadly as he decided to just turn out the lights and go to sleep. The boat/hat sat on the night stand, proud and straight.

The next morning Charlie got up, got ready for work, and headed in. His wish didn't come true. Then again, he hadn't really had much of a wish, had he?