Lou beamed once more at her compliments and found himself staring adoringly at her more than actually eating. He heard a meow halfway through their meal and glanced down to see Bangles, one of Betty's kittens, clawing at his chair. He leaned down and picked him up, chuckling at the little one's antics- then realized all his siblings, including the one he and Maddie had saved off the street and named Blessing, were messing about around them, he just hadn't noticed them yet as he was busy staring at Maddie. Blessing herself was shredding every flower petal she came across, helped by Caroline and Jo, two other female kittens. The pair of male kittens, named Bangles and Daffodil, Daffy for short, were tussling too close to the tablecloth- and soon enough, one of their clawed paws caught on the blue and tugged everything on the table off. Lou was able to grab his and Maddie's plates just in time, but the vase fell and shattered, scaring Buttons, the last female kitten.

Lou, eyes wide, watched as Rhino raced into the room, yipping, and frightened all the kittens, sending them scampering all around the room. Betty sauntered in and meowed loudly at her children, but only Daffy paid attention and ran to her, cuddling up under his mother's belly and trembling. A neighing was heard from the barn and then stamping- Kip could hear the chaos unfolding inside and was probably made uneasy by the noise. Lou met Maddie's eyes with an apologetic gaze- the pets had ruined their lovely dinner, after all -and tried to decide what to deal with first.