Fun & Games While the Cat's Away

A debt of gratitude is owed to Dukea98 for help editing this story. Many thanks.

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While the cat's away the mice will play; or so goes the old saying. Sometimes the way the mice play might not be so nice, and, in fact, might even be considered downright naughty.

The mother, aka the cat, left early on a Friday morning, leaving her eighteen year old daughter, and her husband, aka the mice, to their own devices. She was visiting a sick relative out of state and would not be back until late Sunday evening.

As soon as she got home from school the daughter rushed into the house anxious to see her daddy. It was her eighteenth birthday and she was in a bubbly mood with the cat away. After an exchange of greetings, he invited her out to a lavish birthday dinner to celebrate.

She had a better idea. "Let's go to the bowling alley and have some pizza. You know I love the pizza there and I am feeling casual tonight anyways."

He accepted her offer, and after a fun night of pizza and bowling they returned home. Her carefree mood was still in high gear helped by the clandestine sips she took from each of the three beers he enjoyed while they bowled.

After they settled down on the sofa in the downstairs living room the father asked her, "So it's only nine. What does my little princess want to do for the rest of her birthday?"

Striking a haughty tone, she frowned at him, "I think the princess would care for some of your finest champagne to celebrate her birthday. Could you be so kind and fetch it for her?"

"Princess or not, I don't think your mother, the ice queen, would approve of you drinking, hon."

"Well, she is not here so let's take advantage." She jumped to her feet, heading over to the bar in the corner of the family room announcing, "The princess will get it herself."

After grabbing a nearly full bottle of champagne from the fridge, she pulled out a six ounce crystal champagne flute and filled it to the brim. Hurrying back to the sofa with both the bottle and the full glass of champagne, she whispered to him, "When the cat's away, the mice will play."

"OK but you, little mouse, since you are little, only get a little. Understand?"

"Sure, but Daddy, since you are the big mouse you need to take big drinks."

"I'm the big mouse huh and what?" he said amused, "you want to get this big mouse drunk?"

"Maybe," she responded with a bright smile that suggested her answer was much more on the affirmative side than a mere maybe.

"Now why would you want to get your daddy drunk?" He could tell by the clever smile on her pretty face she was up to something.

"Tell you later, but first take a big drink. It's my birthday and we should be celebrating."

Shaking his head he took a large swallow of the champagne, leaving just under a half a glass, before she snatched it out of his hand. "My turn to celebrate."

"Only a little sip, princess. You don't want to celebrate too much."

"Of course," she replied. Despite his admonishment to only have a little, she finished off the balance of the champagne in two neat gulps.

"Hey, I said only a little!"

"Fine, I will only take a little out of the next glass," she replied happily as she reached over and grabbed the bottle of champagne off the coffee table. He looked on more amused than angry by her disobedience as she refilled the flute.

"So tell me, why don't you call me princess anymore? I used to love it when you called me that."

"Well, I sort of figured after you got older, like when you became a teenager, you wouldn't want me calling you that anymore."

"Oh Daddy, really! I am not one of those snotty teenage brats that is offended if my daddy still calls me cute little nicknames."

She paused, reaching for the glass of champagne sitting on the coffee table in front of the sofa while wondering if he would stop her.

He didn't stop her, but instead issued a stern warning which she promptly ignored.

"Honey, you need to slow down."

"Just one more, but a big one this time and then for the rest of the night I will only take the smallest of sips. I promise." This would be the first of many lies the princess would tell throughout the night.

"I don't know," he answered doubtfully.

"Please, Daddy. I need to be a little tipsy for our upcoming game and you need to be a lot tipsy."

"What game?" he asked now more than a little intrigued by her behavior.

She picked up the glass, while giving him her warmest smile, and after he nodded his approval, took a generous swallow before setting it back down.

"Now, tell me about this game you wanna play that we both need to be tipsy for."

"Well, you calling me princess brought back memories, nice memories of this game we used to play when I was little . . . chase and tickle. Remember that Daddy? We always played it, especially on my birthdays."

"I do. As I recall whenever we played chase and tickle I was the big bad monster, and you where the hapless young princess."

She nodded her head eagerly before speaking, "Yes. You calling me princess brought back the memory of us playing that game. That used to be so much fun. Maybe we could play again for old time's sake."

"Yeah, but you were a little girl then. I mean do you really wanna play a silly game of chase and tickle now that you are older? Besides I doubt your mother would approve. As I recall she was the one who put a stop to us playing as it was."

"She doesn't need to know, and yes I wanna play. It will be funner now that the princess is older and stronger, and maybe not such easy prey for a tired old monster that might also be a little drunk."

She pushed the glass of champagne toward him with a clever smile before whispering, "When the cat's away, the mice will play."

He stared at his daughter trying to judge if she was serious. Apparently she was quite serious based on the way she continued to harp at him to play the game. "Come on! I am serious. I wanna play. It's my birthday and I wanna do something fun and different. Plus . . ."

"Yes, yes I know, when the cat is away, we mice should play." He picked up the glass full of champagne and nearly drained it.

"Does that mean we are going to play?"

"Of course, princess. Could I ever deny you anything?"

She clapped her hands and jumped across the sofa throwing her arms around him. "Thank you Daddy. I promise this will be fun."

While finishing the last of the champagne he took a good long look at his daughter knowing if he wasn't careful things could . . . ahh . . . get a little naughty considering how adorably cute she was.

He carefully sat the glass back down on the coffee table while enjoying the familiar feeling of having his world twisted in knots by his daughter's charming demeanor and smile. It was that same smile and demeanor which as a young girl forever ruled his world—and apparently, even as she became a young adult, continued to do so.

While she may have turned eighteen today, she appeared much younger due to her innate innocence. It was that innocence, combined with a generous sampling of both beauty and sweetness, that made his daughter so irresistible to him while making their impending game of chase and tickle they were about to embark on maybe a little dangerous.

Taking a good look at her, the father thought to himself proudly, "she could be a walking billboard for the old saying, good things come in small packages." She was all of five foot two and weighed a trim one hundred and fourteen pounds. In fact, she was ripped physically from starring on both the senior volleyball and swim teams at the local high school.

Being the product of a mixed heritage, the mother cat being half Spanish and half African American, while the father being Caucasian, gave the daughter a blend of stunning beauty from three different races.

The father adored his daughter's light brown complexion and her curly, kinky hair that fell past her shoulders in a rush of blended colors. While the roots of her pretty hair were dark, she added a bit of light blond to the ends to give her hair a stylish alluring look.

Although he would never speak such a thing, out loud anyways, the father was also very much enthralled by his daughter lithe athletic body. Basically, he thought she was nothing short of perfect in every way possible.

"So, are we really going to do this?" he asked half hoping she was only kidding, while at the same time praying she was not.

"Don't you want to Daddy?"

"Play chase and tickle with the beautiful princess. Of course I do, but I am just wondering, don't you think you are a little too old for such silly games."

"Never too old to have fun. Beside I am eighteen today, not eighty. Maybe you are too old to chase me . . . let alone catch me."

"I doubt that."

"Well, I guess we will find out, but you have promise me something. You need to act like a real monster, Daddy."

"Sure, why not," he replied remembering how he used to growl and grunt at her when they played those many long years ago.

"Daddy, I am serious," she whined. "I want you to growl like you used to, make those snarling noises, and maybe some grunting would be nice too. You have to take this serious . . . you promised."

"OK, OK, I will."

"And don't hold back either. Really attack me. I am bigger now and can take it . . . beside I am going to fight back . . . hard . . . so you had better come prepared."

"Sure, I promise to act like the big scary monster and attack you aggressively, but just remember you asked for it."

"Another thing, I want to create the perfect scary atmosphere so can we like make a rule . . . no lights? I wanna play in the dark."

"Really? I thought the princess was afraid of the dark?"

"I am, a bit, and that is why I want to do it. Being scared will only increase my excitement . . . hmm and maybe make it easier for the poor scared princess to hide from the big scary tickle monster."

She smiled, waiting for him to argue, and when he didn't her smile got wider.

He went upstairs to turn off the lights throughout the house while she sat on the sofa impatiently waiting for him.

Just as entered the kitchen, ready to turn off the last of the lights on upstairs, a sudden thought occurred to him. Going over to the drawer where the mother cat keep the candles in case of a power outage, he grabbed up a handful of small pillar candles and a box of matches. After stuffing the candles into the front pockets of his jeans, and the small box of matches into his back pocket, he hurried back downstairs.

When he came back downstairs she was pacing back and forth across the family room. Stopping next to the last remaining light on in the house, the large floor lamp next to the sofa, she said, "Now you have to sit down so I can have at least a little bit of a head start."

"Of course," he replied as he plopped down on the sofa leering at his beautiful young daughter with bad intent deep in his heart. If she wanted a monster—well, he was prepared to give her one.

Reaching out the princess clicked off the last remaining light on in the house. "Now catch me if you can you ugly old monster," she whispered in the darkness. Seeing his dark shape beginning to rise up from the sofa she decided to go on the offensive right away. Hoping to catch him by surprise, she suddenly rushed forward with a wail and gave him a hard two handed shove.

The monster, taken off guard by her unexpected shove, plopped back down on the sofa with a small grunt.

So that is how it's going to be huh, he thought to himself.

Laughing, she dashed off into the darkness. Instead of getting up and giving chase, the monster did something she probably was not expecting.

He sat there in the quiet darkness waiting for his eyes to adjust. He imagined she expected him to go stumbling around in the dark like some drunken fool after her.

Uh-uh. The monster had a different idea. Although a bit intoxicated, he would not act the part of the drunken fool. No, instead he would be sly and crafty, just like the monster he was.

He sat there all quiet like listening for any clues to her whereabouts. Being somewhat inebriated made it easier for him to put aside any feelings of self-consciousness and play the role of monster-- just like she wanted.

After sitting quietly for almost a full two minutes, the monster was fairly certain the princess was still downstairs; if she had tried to sneak up the stairs he would either seen her dark shadow pass the sofa, or heard the old stairs creaking as she went up them.

Silently, he rose to his feet. Peering into the darkness he searched for any sign of her. Seeing nary a sign, and with it being deathly silent in the living room, he determined she must have found a quiet little hiding place.

Then it came to him; an idea of just where she might be hiding. Slowly, he tip toed across the room toward the small bar across the family room remembering how when she was little and they played hide and seek, she used to like fitting herself under the bar.

Reaching the bar, he tapped on the bar's wooden counter top with his fingers before growling in his best guttural monster voice, "Come out, come out little princess and let the monster have his way with you."

The princess, delighted at his attempt to sound like a monster, snickered. The quiet sound was enough to affirm what he previously had only suspected. Circling the bar, he peered down into the darkness.

There appeared to his searching eyes the outline of a crouching shape. She was no longer so small as to fit herself all the way under the bar which left her dangerously exposed.

Backing off to the other side of the bar, he pulled two of the candles out of his pocket. While there was an agreement between them not to turn on any lights, there was no promises made about lighting a candle or two. After spacing the two candles out along the bar, he pulled the matches from his back pocket.

The candles flickered to life casting an eerily glow throughout the room. Lighting one more of the long wooden matches he crept around the bar.

She looked up at him. "Hey! That is cheating . . . no fair!" she cried as the light from the match fully uncovered her hiding spot.

"Monsters don't play fair," he replied as he reached down attempting to grab her. She rose up, trying to avoid his grasp, but it was too tight under the bar. He easily blocked her path, and remembering both her earlier hard shove, and her instructions for him to be aggressive, he did not hold back in yanking her out from under the bar.

With an iron grip around her waist, the monster half dragged, half-carried the giggling princess across the family room and back to the sofa. He twisted her around, before tossing her down onto the sofa.

She landed with a grunt sprawled out on the sofa on her stomach. Falling down upon his prey, the monster tickled her exposed mid-section with reckless abandon. It was easy as the cropped sweatshirt the princess was wearing rode up revealing her well-toned abs as she sprawled on the sofa trying to fend off the monster's attack.

Finally, the monster, thinking he might be playing too aggressive, his hands had come dangerously close to the princess' small tits several times, let up on his attack.

Rising up, he stared down at her as she rested on her back. She was breathing heavy; her light brown kinky hair was disheveled with a couple wild strands falling down into her face. In the soft glow of the candlelight the princess looked utterly beautiful.

"Please, show me mercy, Mr. Monster. No more tickling."

"But I am a tickle monster and that is what tickle monsters do . . . tickle." He reached down and started tickling her again as she wailed in girlish delight.

"No more, no more, I am begging. You win, you wicked monster," the princess cried out as she was finally was able to grab his hands when he let his attack wane.

Holding his hands tight, she whispered, "Please stop and I will give you something . . . something nice."

"Like what?" the monster growled.

"Kisses . . . like this . . . soft and sweet."

She brought his hands to her mouth and kissed each of them softly in turn.

"Hmm, kisses are nice. The monster doesn't get many kisses, especially from beautiful young princesses."

"Oh really, you think I am beautiful," she whispered sitting up while still gripping his hands tightly.

"So beautiful you make this poor monster's heart ache."

"Hmm, how sweet. I think you maybe deserve more kisses for saying such kind things but this time someplace better than your paws."

She let go of his hands, and reaching up to his face, used one finger to stroke his cheek. "Like here, maybe."

"That would be nice."

She leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on one cheek before using her finger to lightly scratch his face on the other side. "And here," she whispered.

Again, she applied a tender kiss to his other cheek as the monster let out a gentle sigh.

"Is my sweet kisses taming your wild heart Mr. Monster?"

"Yes they are my adorable princess. Can I have more?"

"Of course, but first you must close your eyes and you can have one here." She tickled his lips with her fingertips suspecting the monster could not, would not, resist such a tempting offer. He couldn't.

Closing his eyes, he waited, and for his efforts he got yet another hard shove knocking him backwards as the princess screamed, "Stupid monster I shall never kiss your ugly lips."

The princess turned tail and scampering to her left, just avoiding his initial charge as bolted off the sofa. She headed for the stairs with the monster giving chase before he abruptly stopped.

Not wanting to be stumbling around upstairs in the dark, he backtracked to the bar and grabbed one of the candles. Going slowly up the stairs, he strained his ears trying to listen if she went upstairs to the third level of the house where the bedrooms were located.

Nothing but silence filled the air as he paused at the top of the stairs. To his right was the living room and to his left the dining room, dominated by a large rectangular dinner table. The kitchen was adjacent to the dining room separated by a long marble counter.

He held the candle up peering into the living room. Deciding he would save searching the living room for later, he turned left into the dining room. Moving toward the kitchen, out of the corner of his eye he thought he spied a dim figure crouched down at the far end of the table.

Treading slowly, he carefully set the candle down on the middle of the marble counter that separated the dining room from the kitchen. He turned and smiled as he heard a scrapping noise in the dining room. She must be there after all!

The princess, trying to make herself smaller, brushed up against the chair she was crouched down behind. The wooden chair made a loud enough noise in the silence of the house to attract the monster's attention as it scrapped against the tile floor.

The monster rapidly advanced on her. She tried to dash by him and into the living room as a precursor to going upstairs, but taking two quick steps to his right, he reached out and just did snag a handful of her sweatshirt. Yanking hard, the monster pulled his victim into his grasp.

He wasted no time in attacking her bare mid-section once again with a pair of clawing, grasping hands as she doubled over giggling.

"Gotcha," he yelled over her wails of laughter.

The princess flailed her arms about in abject panic and just happened to land a lucky blow across his face. He was leaning in to whisper a taunt in her ear when her open palm gave him a stinging slap across one cheek.

He pulled back the hard slap catching him off guard. She used the momentarily reprieve to scoot around to the other side of the table so it was between them.

The monster moved around the table so he was between her and the living room, cutting off any hope of the princess escaping to the upstairs. Turning frantically, she clawed open the large glass sliding door next to the table that lead outdoors to the patio and then the backyard.