"'Sweet dreams,' she said.  Right."  Jim had tossed and turned most of the night.  Now, just before four am, he heard a door open and close in the building below, then a few minutes later a car started up. Then the
unmistakable sound of a talk radio show drifted up to him.

"This is a special edition of Art Bell's show.  And now, back to Art and Ghost to Ghost, AM."

Listening for a moment, he heard Art greet his caller and the caller, a man from Hawaii, started to relate a chilling tale of a not so friendly ghost that had haunted him and his wife.

Jim groaned. "Probably Alicia leaving on her trip."  Rolling over, punching his pillow a few times, he curled up on his side and tried to get back to sleep.  It seemed like only minutes had passed when the annoying ring of
Blair's alarm clock went off.  Knowing that his roommate would take a while to crawl out of bed, Jim rolled out of his bed and, slipping on his robe, went downstairs to start the coffee and grab a shower.

Coming out of the bathroom, he found Blair coming back into the loft. "Morning, Jim!"  He had Saint Gee with him.

"Chief, you're just supposed to watch him, not bring Gee up here."

"I know, but he followed me up here and I couldn't just leave him outside." Blair looked over at Jim, his eyes silently asking, 'can he stay?'

Jim let out a sigh. "Whatever.  But, should he make a mess in here, you clean it up."  He grabbed a cup of coffee and headed up to his room to change into his work clothes, since Wednesdays were one of their 'off' days for running.

Giving Saint Gee a final ear scratching, Blair put the little black kitten on the hardwood floor of the living area.  "See?  I told you, he's okay once you get to know him.  Now, behave yourself, I have to go get ready myself."  And he fairly bounced down the hallway to the bathroom.

Jim was sitting on his bed, tying his shoes, when he heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the bathroom.  Grinning as he focused in on the sound, it sounded like Alicia's kitten didn't like the idea of humans showering, for he was complaining in a loud voice as Blair asked the kitten what was wrong.  Walking down the stairs he found Saint Gee sitting outside the bathroom, still complaining.  Treading carefully down the short hallway, he startled the kitten, which gave out a short hiss and ran past him back
into the living room.  He knocked on the door.  "Chief?  I'm going to run down and grab the paper."

"Okay, man.  I'll be done by the time you get back up here.  What was wrong with Gee?"  With a squeal of metal, the shower shut off.

"I'm not sure, maybe he doesn't like to be closed off from those that he likes."  Jim shook his head as he walked out towards the loft's door. Carefully looking around the loft to see if he could find the kitten, he had
to resort to listening to locate it.  Saint Gee had found Blair's room and, if the loudness of the purr was any indication, was quite happy about his discovery.  He left to grab the morning paper.

Coming out of the bathroom, just as Jim closed the loft door behind him, Blair looked around the apartment to see where Saint Gee had run off to.  Not seeing the kitten anywhere, he shrugged and walked into his room, where he found the black kitten happily grooming himself while sitting on his white dress shirt, shedding fur all over the pristine fabric.  "Aw, man!  I was going to wear that today, Gee!"  Reaching out, he scooped the kitten into his arms and looked over the shirt.  Damage was done; the silky fine cat fur that Gee had shedded was fully covering the shirt.  Depositing the kitten back onto the bed and the shirt, he was forced to grab another out of his closet. "I wonder how many lint brushes Alicia goes through in one month?" he groused, pulling on the light blue dress shirt he'd selected.

Jim jolted awake as the painful sensation of needles being thrust into his toes registered.  Jerking his leg in reflex, he heard a startled yowl from Saint Gee, followed by the soft thump of the cat landing on the floor.  "Damn cat," he muttered and punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape. Rolling onto his side, he settled down again, waiting for the kitten’s next move.

He didn’t have long to wait.  The little black beast leapt lightly back onto the bed, moving stealthily towards his victim, the tip of his tail twitching, his eyes glowing with an eerie green fire. Jim smiled, watching the cat’s
antics.

Gee pounced, landing slightly to the left of Jim’s legs, a low, frustrated growl issuing from his throat.  ‘What the in the hell is he tracking?’ Jim wondered.  Again, the cat jumped, front paws coming down together, razor
sharp claws extended, piercing the bed clothing.

"Hey, little one, not on the good sheets.  Okay?"  Jim complained, reaching for the kitten.  His hand encircled the small hunter’s belly, just as tiny feet raced across his stomach.

"Yaagh!"  Jim cried out, scrambling backwards, dragging a yeowling kitten with him in a tangle of sheets and blankets.  They teetered on the edge of the bed for a moment, then toppled to the floor with a solid thump.

A small whiskered nose poked out from under the pile of linen, then the tiny mouse skittered across the room, Saint Gee and Jim in hot pursuit.

'One more day.  Just one more, and Alicia will be home and Gee can go back to where he belongs.'  Jim was trudging down the stairs from his bedroom, holding the kitten in one hand and a still squirming mouse in the other. He'd found both in his bed.  Saint Gee had been spending a lot of time in the loft, thanks to Blair's soft heart, and over the course of three days had brought several 'kills' in.  The mouse this morning was the latest example.

Having caught the offending rodent by the tail, he snatched up the cat and while he carried both creatures down stairs, Jim had to keep Gee from batting the mouse out of his hand.  Walking over to the balcony, he carefully opened up a door and put both outside.

Grumbling under his breath, he walked over to the kitchen sink and scrubbed his hands.  Drying them, he heard Blair stirring in his room.  Talking the damp towel with him, twirling it as he crept along, Jim entered his partner's room and zapped him with the towel.

"Hey!"  Blair could move fast when inspired to.  He sprang out of bed and glared at his roommate.  "What the hell?!?  What did you do that for?"

"I need your help, Chief."  He beckoned for his shaman to follow him and left the room.

Running a hand through his slept tousled hair, Blair followed.  "What is it? You hear or smell something?  Or something else?"

Jim just walked over to the French doors and pointed outside, where Gee was happily munching on the mouse.  "Something else. I’m surprised that you managed to sleep through the excitement."

Looking at Saint Gee in the pale morning light, Blair realized that he could hear the kitten 'crunching' through his prize's skull.  "Oh, yick!  Wait a minute, where did he get a mouse?"

"My thoughts exactly.  Either he brought it in alive last night and we didn't see it, or he got it from here inside the loft."  Jim walked around, turning every light in the place on, flooding the apartment with light.

"Let me guess, we're about to go on a mouse hunt?"  Blair shook his head in disgust.  Jim liked to keep the apartment spotless; there was no way that a mouse could survive around his 'clean-freak' of a sentinel.

Dropping to his knees in the kitchen, intent on looking under the counters and stove, Jim glanced up at his friend.  "Can you think of a better thing to do?"

Longingly thinking of his bed, he said, " Well, yeah, I can.  But since it was my idea that Gee spend some time with us, I guess I can sacrifice some winks."

~~ To Be Continued ~~