My note to you: The italicized text is from Kato/part1: Brokenhearted? , so you will understand what the heck is going on, here. Also, if you read this before you read part 1, then you will find yourself hopelessly confused, and I will not help you to understand, aside from telling you to read part 1. Anyway, here goes:

“Kato?” Amber’s voice asked hesitantly.

“What?” he acknowledged her, his voice tight with suppressed tears.

 “Are you okay?”

He looked down at her, struggling to hold back his howls of misery. “I’m sorry for what I said this morning. I didn’t mean it, either. I’m glad for you and Tomek. I talked to Jada…”

Eyes glinting with hostility, Amber looked up at him. “How do I know that you mean it?” she snapped. “How do I know that you aren’t just trying to win favor with me?”

Anger filled him up so completely that there was no room left for sadness. “My question now is,” he growled, not able to keep all of his anger out of the words. “How you could think that I would do that? After you and Tomek are already mates? What do you think that I am?”

 Amber flinched. “I’m sorry,” she told him. I misjudged you. I accept your apology. So we can be friends?”

 Kato nodded, but he just couldn’t bring himself to smile. “Friends,” he said firmly.

He walked out of the room behind her, glancing at the weak rays of sun falling upon the bed, realizing that they lit the way for a new life for him. He had no future with Amber except to be very good friends with her, and now he realized that he didn’t want anything more than that.

Now for part two…

Two weeks later, after chats with Amber and Tomek, whom he had come to like, visits with Merla, whose company he enjoyed, and outings with Jada, for whom he felt what he thought was love, it was time for Daddy to leave. Once again the bags were packed and the room cleaned up, but this time things were different.

“Goodbye, Zack,” Daddy said. “Thanks. This is a huge help.”

 He turned to leave. Kato followed him, but was pushed away. “No, Kato,” Daddy scolded him gently. “You’re not coming.”

 Kato was tempted to try to follow him, but he had heard it: the word “no”. “No” meant that he wasn’t supposed to do whatever he had done. And he would obey Daddy, whatever happened. So he stayed and watched as Daddy walked down the street.

Only when Daddy was little more than a black speck did Kato move away from the window. Despair welled up inside Kato. What would he do without Daddy, Rob, and Momma? Daddy was his person, the one who Kato would put before anyone else if the family was in danger.

 Rob was a good companion when he wanted to play, even if Daddy’s son could be a little annoying, pulling Kato’s tail and things.

 Momma fed him every day, taking good care of him. Sometimes, when she was lying on her bed reading, Kato would jump up beside her and read along. It was hard for him to figure out some words, but the stories were wonderful, when he could follow them. Sometimes Momma turned the pages too quickly. She would laugh to herself and say, “I swear, that dog can read!”

Amber padded up to him, jerking him out of his reverie. “You’re sad, aren’t you?”

Kato just looked at her. She still was beautiful to him, but now he really didn’t care. Jada was not extremely pretty, but in his mind, she was the most amazing thing to ever breathe air.

Suddenly he realized that he hadn’t answered Amber yet. “Of course. They’re the closest thing that I have to family!”

 Amber gave him an odd look, as if she knew more than she was telling. “I’m really sorry. You know, things we lose sometimes come back to us.”

 Kato frowned. What in the world did she mean? He nodded. “I suppose,” he said heavily. “I’m going to see Jada.”

 Amber gave him a twisted smile. “Okay, great.” She disappeared into the living room.

 Kato began the familiar walk to Jada’s house. He changed direction when he heard a howl from the house, then Zack’s voice yelling, “Oh my gosh, they’re coming!”

 Kato wasn’t sure he knew what Zack meant, but he could make a pretty good guess. Setting his teeth grimly, he tore around to corner toward the boiler room.

Tomek was sitting by the boiler, eating… Kato was sure he had seen something like that before. Two brown things, with something else stuck between them… a sandwich! The thing that he had on the train on her first journey here! The thought of the sandwich was oddly comforting.

 Tomek looked up. “Hey, Kato! How’s-“

 Kato cut across him. “Tomek,” he gasped, exhausted from running so fast. “Amber’s pups are coming. Now.”

 Tomek’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding. Oh my gosh.” He got up. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

 Tomek raced beside Kato. As they neared the house, they heard a shriek of agony. Tomek sped up. When he got to the doggie door, he pushed through it. Or at least he meant to.

 “Ouch!” Tomek howled as his head banged into the door. “They’ve locked that blamed dog door!”

 “Shut up,” Kato growled. “The last thing that Amber needs is you making a bunch of noise.”

 Tomek seemed to see sense in this. He nodded, padding up the steps to the door. He sat down on the doormat and stared at the door for two full hours, listening to Amber’s squeals of pain. Kato walked around the front yard, thinking about Jada, Daddy, and Amber for two full hours.

 At the end of the two hours, the door opened. Zack nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Tomek.

 “Oh geez! Don’t scare me like that, dog!” More thoughtfully he added, “You’re that stray named Tomek, aren’t you. Some of the pups look an awful lot like you, Tomek. Maybe you could be their father.”

 Tomek decided not to listen to this anymore. As he tried to push past Zack, the human said, “Okay, okay, you can come in.”

 As Zack moved aside, Kato caught a brief glimpse of Amber, asleep, with eight little bundles at her side. There was gentleness in Tomek’s eyes that Kato had never seen there before.

 Suddenly, Kato was scared. He couldn’t go in that room, he couldn’t. He turned and raced down the street, longing for Jada’s logical sense and her kind understanding. She met him when he was halfway to her house.

 “Amber’s having her pups isn’t she?” Jada panted by way of greeting.

 Surprised, Kato skidded to an unsteady halt. “How did you know?” he asked her.

 Jada just shrugged. “You’d be surprised how fast news gets around. Did you get Tomek?”

 Kato nodded. “Yeah. He just about went berserk.”

 Jada laughed. “I can well imagine that,” she admitted. She looked at him sympathetically. “Why did you leave?” she asked him.

 Kato looked at the ground, half-ashamed that he had been so quick to exit the scene. “I don’t know,” he answered. “I guess I didn’t want to intrude. It was a little…”

 “Embarrassing?” Jada guessed.

 “Yeah.”

Jada looked at him eagerly. “Well, no need to be embarrassed. Come with me.”

 Fear washed through Kato when he thought of going back to Amber, asleep on a pile of coats, and Tomek, the unnatural gentleness burning in his eyes.

But Jada was going the wrong way to Amber’s house. Kato followed her, annoyed with himself for being relieved at the fact that they were not going back to Amber’s. Jada walked beside him. He brushed against her, grateful for her optimism and good reasoning.

Soon she spoke. “I’ve decided to show you a place that I keep to myself. Don’t tell anyone about it. Please.”

Kato nodded. What in the world could this place be? “Okay,” he agreed, wondering if he had much choice. He wasn’t in the mood for secrets.

 Soon they came to the edge of town. Beyond the last houses was a fast-moving creek. Beyond that was a small copse. Kato had seen it often, but he had never bothered to wonder what could be in it. Curiosity pricked at him. Was that where they were going?

 Jada led him beside the creek until they were on the opposite side of the copse that they had started on. “This way,” she directed, motioning to a place a little below a place where the river bent sharply toward the copse.

 Kato gasped with fear as she carefully stepped onto a slippery stone, and then another and then another. Then she reached a rock that was covered in moss. By this time she was out in the middle of the river. Shaking with fear, Kato watched as she dug her paws into the moss and launched herself across the creek.

 She beckoned for him to follow. Kato glanced uncertainly at the rocks. How sturdy would they be now that Jada had already crossed them?

 “Come on,” she encouraged. “I’ve done this a million times!”

 Kato decided that he would have to trust her. Placing an uncertain paw on the first rock, he looked into her eyes.

She nodded expectantly. “That’s right. You can do it.”

Her words drifted toward him. Concentrating on her voice instead of the black water below him, he began to step from rock to rock. He looked down. There was moss under his feet. He had reached the rock that Jada had jumped from. Surprised at his own daring, he leaped from the rock. He was afraid that he would fall short of the bank, but fear had made him strong. He landed, skittering dangerously close to the bank.

Jada caught him, her teeth fastened firmly in his scruff. Her touch made his fur tingle with excitement. “Thanks,” he said breathlessly.

She smiled at him. “No problem. Come on.”

 She led him along the bank until they came to place where the creek widened out into a lazy flow. Willow trees bordered the water. White sand sloped gently down the creek. The water was so shallow that Kato could see the bottom. Little fish swarmed around in the creek bed, and water birds took flight at the dogs’ appearance. Kato thought that he had never seen a place so beautiful.

 “Wow,” he breathed. “It… It’s amazing!”

 Jada looked around impressively. “I know,” she agreed.