The Best Christmas Present

"Mommy!! Daddy?" Katie called out. She wandered the apartment searching for her parents.

"Where are you guys?!" She yelled.

"Up here sweetie!" Her mother called back. Katie quickly ran down the hall, Christmas list in hand, and stumbled into her parent's room.

"Mommy! Daddy! I finished my Christmas list!! Look!" She squealed. Katie handed her mom and dad her Christmas list. Her parent's eyed it and exchanged looks.

"Well? What do you think?" She asked them. They looked at her. Katie's smile changed to worry.

"Mommy? Daddy? What to you think?" She was scared that her parent's would say no.

"Um...sweetheart...what you want...I mean, I know you want this badly...uh..." She trailed off.

"We know you want it, it's just that we can't afford it right now. I mean we're living in an apartment, we have to pay rent every month, and...honey, we just don't have the money." Her dad finished.

"So...I can't get a kitten?" Tears welled up in Katie's eyes as she thought about not having a kitten.

"Not now, Katie-bear." Her dad said. "Maybe next year..."

"What would you like instead?" Her mother asked her.

"...Just get me a Barbie doll..." Katie replied quietly as she moped out of her parent's room. "...Just a doll..." She repeated. When she got into her room, she shut the door, laid on her bed, and cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, was Christmas morning. Katie woke up and stretched. Yawning, she got out of bed, and brushed her teeth.

"Katie! Come here!" Her mother called.

"Coming mom..." She replied. There was no excitement in her voice, even though it was Christmas day.

Katie walked slowly down the hall. When she turned the corner, her parents were standing in front of the Christmas tree.

"What is it?" Katie asked, still tired. Her parents moved aside and revealed a small basket with a tiny little Tabby kitten with giant green eyes sitting inside it with a pretty pink bow around its neck.

"Oh my gosh!!" Katie screamed. She ran over to the kitten and scooped it up in her arms. She cradled it as if it were a child and stared lovingly into its eyes. The kitten stared back.

"Thank you mom! Thank you dad!" She said.

"Don't thank us. Thank Santa, dear." Her father said. Katie smiled at them. Then, she looked back at her kitten.

"I'll always love you...Kat."

"Mew?"