Present Day
Katherine had been told about Spike, but in the panic on Lily’s attack and the focus on her rehabilitation, she had completely forgotten Josef’s story. When she looked over the little black Alicorn she had no reason to believe this was the same one that slashed Josef’s face.
Likewise Alan had no reason to believe that Katherine had any connection to Spike, he was just trying to help her out with Lily.
Spike looked over Katherine, a disinterested look on his face. “Wai Kat-a-wine wan take Spike tu nyu homesie?”
“My Fluffy Lily has been hurt, some bad Fluffies killed her tummy babies, gave her bad enfies and ate her two front hoofs. She’s had the worst heart hurties ever since then, she’s afraid that other Fluffies will think she’s a monster, other Fluffies HAVE called her a monster. I’m looking to find her a friend, someone to help cheer her up and play with her. Alan here says you have no problem with Fluffies missing limbs.”
Spike looked over at Alan, then back at Katherine. “Kat-a-wine nu jus wan Spike be fwiend du she?”
Katherine was impressed, this was a smart Fluffy. “You’re right, I’m hoping that having foals again might help cheer Lily up, last time was just a breed and meet but this time, with her injuries I think she’ll need assistance. This doesn’t have to be right away, you can meet Lily first and decide you don’t want to be her special-friend, I won’t force you, at this point someone to play with will be a start.”
“Du Kat-a-wine hab pik-cha of Wiwy?”
Katherine pulled out her phone and found a picture of her and Lily. “It’s an older picture, back when she still had her legs and her fur wasn’t all patchy, but this is her.”
Spike looked over the picture, even with her one eye he could tell Lily was an attractive mare, her green fluff and yellow mane were shining and the smile on her face was pretty to look at. He felt his heart hurt at the thought of her never smiling again.”
“If Spike come wiv yu, can Kat-a-wine bwing Spike bak tu see famiwy? Hab mummah, daddeh an sissy hewe tuu.”
Katherine started to smile. “Of course, I work here so I can bring you back as often as you like, I can even bring your family to my home if I can get permission from my boss.”
Spike thought for a moment, Katherine could see the little cogs turning in his head.
“Spike nu pwomise anee-fing, bu Spike be ok wiv seein Wiwy, Spike nu pway in wong time.”
Katherine’s smile grew on her face. “That’s great news, thank you Spike, I’ll get Alan here to write up the paperwork and…”
“Just take him Kat.”
Katherine stared at Alan stunned. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I check them for Ringer symptoms daily so I know he’s clean, and all that paperwork will take bloody ages to go through properly. Just take him home and we’ll work out later, Lily deserves happiness as soon as she can. Hell, take him home now and I’ll cover for you, say you left something at home and you’ll be back shortly.”
“Thank you Al, I can’t thank you for this.”
“Just make sure Lily’s happy and that’ll be enough.”
Katherine reached in and picked Spike out of his pen, cradling him gently in her arms. “Lewis must’ve had some effect on you, I remember when you enjoyed hurting Fluffies as much as I did.”
“Time makes fools of us all Kat, but yeah I guess you spend enough time around Lou you just start enjoying the little buggers that much more.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you’ve gone soft.”
“I was just about to say the same thing to you.”
The two of them shared a laugh before Alan looked down at Spike.
“You keep yourself out of trouble Spike, I’ll keep an eye on your family here.”
“Fank yu Awan, Spike sowwy fow bein meanie sumtimes.”
“Ah you’ve had a rough life, all is forgiven.”
Katherine gave a final thanks to Alan before rushing off to take Spike home to meet Lily, Spike looked up at Katherine as she walked.
“Am Kat-a-wine Spike’s nyu mummah?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
Spike rested his head on Katherine’s arm and smiled, wondering about all the wonderful things he, his new mummy and his new friend were going to get up to, wishing that between them they could stop the bad sleeping pictures he’d been having.
Katherine looked down at the smiling Fluffy and smiled back at him, if what Alan said was true then Spike was going to need some help as well, with any luck he and Lily could help each other heal.
As she left the building and went to her car, she briefly thought about what Josef might think when he met Spike.
That is the end of Carter’s Creature Comforts, hopefully the jumping in time didn’t make things too hard to follow but I wanted to catch Lewis up before the next series.
And that next series will be Requiem For A Doctor, I’ll have a couple short prologues about what happened to Spike and his family between their escape from Josef and their rescue by Daniel and then another one about what Josef’s been up to since Lily’s attack. I won’t get into the meat of the story yet but I’ll be bouncing around between Lewis and Josef’s P.O.V. during their unsteady alliance so hopefully that comes out ok.
Until then, if you aren’t caught up on The Mongola series yet then please do because Requiem will touch upon a lot of back story and bring it all together in a violent spectacle. It’s gonna be interesting how things turn out.
