Chapter 38

Cheetara knocked on the office door and the cat behind it bade her to enter. The cheetah took a seat in front of her friend's desk. Lea moved her head from the computer screen to look at her friend.

"What's up?" The lioness asked. It was two days after Lion-O had spoken to the new Mutants and the cheetah had finally been able to get some of Lea's time.

"I'm concerned that Lion-O may be in over his head and I'm not sure how I can help him," Cheetara admitted.

"Has he said anything? Or has his behavior changed?" The lioness was concerned.

"He hasn't said, but we're married. I can tell when something is off," the cheetah said. Lea nodded.

"This is usually the part where I ask the dumb question – have you tried talking to him about it?" She wondered.

"Well, we haven't had much time to ourselves… and he's supposed to be on duty tonight in the Control Room," Cheetara heaved a sigh.

"He is a busy guy. Ok, here's what we're going to do," Lea picked up her phone and pressed the familiar button that was starting to lose its label from wear.

"Hey babe," the lioness said and immediately the cheetah knew who she was talking to.

"Lion-O and Cheetara need a night off. How's about you and I work the Control Room tonight?" Lea asked. Her friend started to object but the lioness wouldn't hear of it.

"See you then," the lioness had a smirk on her face.

"I didn't want you to do that," Cheetara said.

"Panthro says getting a night with me is better than sitting in there by himself. Besides, the mental health of our King is more important than working one quiet night in the Control Room.

"I'll tell him the good news," the cheetah smiled.

"But do me a favor and actually talk. I know that you haven't had much time to yourselves but tonight won't be the only time you can enjoy each other's company, if you know what I mean," Lea waggled her eyebrows.

"Well, I won't make any promises, but I will insist we talk before anything else," Cheetara chuckled.

"Good. Keep me posted. If you don't make headway, we'll drag his ass in here and make him talk," the lioness promised.

"Sounds like a plan," the cheetah nodded. Lea's phone rang and she was going to send it to voicemail when she saw who it was. Mouthing 'Mandora' to Cheetara, she picked up the phone.

"Hey, how's my favorite patient?" Lea wondered. Her eye went wide, and the cheetah wondered what the Evil Chaser could be saying to her.

"I'm sure I can round up the troops, sure. Give me twenty minutes?" The lioness asked, Mandora replied and then Lea said,

"Great, see you then," with that the call ended and she hung up.

"What's going on?" Cheetara wanted to know.

"Mandora says she has an announcement to make," Lea looked concerned.

"Hence the rounding up the troops. Where are we meeting?" The cheetah asked.

"Small conference room. Can you snag people? Immediate crew only. No Evil Chasers. Just ThunderCats and our Mutant friends," the lioness said.

"On it," with a whoosh, Cheetara was gone. Lea wondered if what she'd told Commander Tiberius a few days ago is what precipitated this. She frowned and heaved herself out of her cushy office chair.

"So, I'm guessing you all have a lot of questions," Mandora said as she took a seat. The blonde was still slightly weak from all that time she spent in a hospital bed, but she didn't need much assistance to get around – impressive given everything she'd been through. Working out with the physical therapist the last few days had been revitalizing and she could almost see glimpses of her old self.

"Whatever is going on, we want to help," Lion-O spoke up. Lea was eyeballing Commander Tiberius, who was sitting next to the blonde. He had an unreadable expression.

"I am going to take the retirement option that the ICF is offering me," she said. There were mostly shocked expressions on the faces around her as she continued,

"This injury has really made me question everything and with Lea's help, I realized that I've spent so much time being First Class that I haven't spent any time being Mandora. I won't be on this journey alone and that has made my decision easier."

"You have a home here, with us," Lion-O said. He seemed to be the only one that had the words to say.

"I'm going to take you up on that offer but only if I can bring someone with me," Mandora smiled.

"Whatever will make you happy, makes us happy," Cheetara smiled.

"Good because I'm putting in my papers too. We're going to navigate this together. We've put things off long enough," Commander Tiberius spoke up.

"Then I say we should celebrate," Lea smiled. It wasn't what she'd expected but this would hopefully make them happy. Besides, it wasn't like life on Third Earth was quiet. There'd be plenty to do.

"Absolutely we should! When does it become official?" Panthro wanted to know.

"Well, I need to speak to Commander McCoy and then take things from there. Mine will take a little longer to process," Tiberius admitted.

"Then a small party now and a big party when it's official," Ben-Gali smirked.

"I concur. We need more parties here," Arzu chuckled.

"She's not wrong," Slythe smirked.

"Tygra, pull out the good stuff from the cabinet. A toast to our friends and newest residents of Third Earth!" Lion-O announced. The tiger quickly pulled out the liquor stashed in the cabinet against the wall and glasses were passed around the room. Things were looking just fine in the aftermath of all they'd been through.

The End