Dedication: Posie and Noname and Smeagie and Podie and Fritzy and B'Elanna and Tom and Rosie and to the Kittens and to every other cat.
Kit
By Jillybean
Lost and Found
It wasn't Alec's choice profession to be a cage fighter, but it paid the rent and let out some of his frustration. He sighed and pulled his jacket collar up as he walked through the darkened streets, hearing the rain pour down. He watched as it flowed in rivers down the gutters, a thick torrent of brown, dirty, fluffy water.
Fluffy?
Alec spun and plunged his hand into the icy water, he dragged out a little ball of soaked muddy fur. He almost dropped it in disgust. It was small enough to sit on his hand, an oversized head and sharp little claws. The brown colouring made him want to barf, he didn't want to know what it had been in.
He should throw it away, before he got infected with something.
Even as he made to snap it's pathetic little neck it opened one grey eye and opened it's mouth. A heartfelt miaow seemed to reverbrate in Alec's skull. He sighed helplessly.
" 'S' okay little sister, wouldn't do that to you." He sighed and wrapped it in his jacket, the freezing little lump of flesh buried closer to his heart and Alec felt like an idiot.
It was obviously the runt of the litter, abandoned by it's mother who knew better than saying this kitten would live. So why was Alec even trying.
"C'mon sis, let's get you home." He whispered.
His apartment wasn't very warm and Alec cursed himself for not bothering much for heat. He headed towards an old newspaper and lit it with a lighter he kept incase he needed to blow up something.
Putting the fuel in a pot he got a towel and started rubbing the little kitten's fur dry.
"Miaow." It whined in protest as he rubbed her little paws. She looked up at him defiantly.
"Maybe you're Max's sister." He said, checking to see how much she'd cut him with his claws. The kitten tried to get closer to the fire.
"Hey - that'll burn you. You need to learn to accept help you know, you and Max."
"Miaow?"
"You hungry sis?" He asked when he'd finished drying her off, the towel was filthy so he added it to the fire. He headed for the refrigorator and got out the carton of milk. He took some sugar and mixed it in with a little bit of milk in the bowl.
"This'll make you hyper, but it'll do until I can get you some goats milk."
"Miaow." The kitten watched as Alec dipped his finger into the milk and pressed it to her mouth. The little kitten licked it off hungrily.
"Hmm, you're a fighter then, like your big brothers and sisters. Don't make our mistake though, you learn to accept help." He fed her in this way until she started feeling strong enough to drink from the bowl.
As the makeshift heat source burned out Alec lay down to sleep, the kitten curling in the crook of his neck. It purred away and Alec chuckled to himself, unaware he was mimicing the sound in a deeper tone.
"Hey look - it's Alec." Max drawled when she saw him come in to Jam Pony the next morning. She noticed he was cradling something in his hands.
"What you got there?" She asked coming over for a look. Then she shrieked. "Oh my God! She is soo cute!"
"Yeah, that was my reaction too." Alec said, sounding concerned for Max. Max grabbed the little kitten out of his hands. "Hey! Be careful Max! She's fragile!"
"Alec- please? I'm sure she'll fare better with me than with you." Max said, cradling the kitten to her neck.
"Oh really? She was close to death last night -" Alec began.
"Alec! How can you say that in front of her!?" Max exclaimed, half turning away to shield the kittens ears.
"What is going on here?" OC asked, she, Sketcky and some other employers asked. "Oh that is adorable! Come to OC now honey!" OC took the kitten.
"Be careful!" Max and Alec yelled at once. The kitten disappeared in a crowd of oohing an ahhing employees.
"What's going on here?" Normal interrupted. Suddenly Alec and Max found themselves holding the kitten and everyone stepped back. Max glared at Alec, making it clear that he was to talk his way out of this.
"Is that a kitten? What is it doing here?" Normal asked. Alec coughed and let Max take the kitten into her arms.
"I found her last night, she needs supervision and feeding, I couldn't leave her in my apartment."
"Her?" Normal asked, sounding skeptical.
"Yeah - can't you smell it - nevermind. C'mon Normal, I won't slack off, promise." Alec wrapped an arm around Max's shoulders. "Max has even volunteered to help."
"Like Hell- I mean, sure, I volunteered." Max glared at him. Alec turned his best smile on Normal.
"How can you resist either kitten?" OC asked with a dark chuckle. Alec, Max and the kitten looked like some sort of freakish family, Alec with his arm wrapped around Max's shoulders and Max cradling the kitten in her arms like a baby.
"No slacking." Normal warned.
"Oh thank you!" Alec exclaimed. Max yanked away from him and started cooing to the kitten.
"Max - give her back now." Alec ordered. Max turned on him and shook her head.
"She will be much safer with me, sheltered from the world of drugs, porn and 'masculine' fights." She replied sweetly. "Won't you Kitty?"
"Oh great, so now you're naming my cat." Alec said, making a grab for the kitten.
"She is not your cat any more!" Max goaded. Alec grabbed Max's shoulder
"Miaow!" The kitten exclaimed. The X5's stopped guiltily. The kitten was cowering in Max's hands.
"See! You're scaring her!" Max yelled at Alec.
"I'm scaring her! I'm not even holding her!"
"Would you two stop it?" OC exclaimed. "God I pity any kids you two might have." Max and Alec turned frosty glares on her. OC hastily rushed on. "Would you both look at what you're doing to that kitten, she's gonna be terrified." OC sighed and took the kitten from the glowering transgenics.
"There you are beauty, don't worry about those two." OC said, stroking her. "She's filthy."
"Last night I didn't think she was strong enough for a wash." Alec said, looking a little guilty. "Do you think I should have?"
"OC?" Max asked. OC looked thoughtful.
"Did you bring food?" She asked. Alec pulled out a glass bottle of a yellowish milk.
"Goats milk, mix in some sugar and she drinks it all."
"Right. Let's go clean her." OC led the way to the bathrooms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take A Break - Take A Kit Kat
OC paused before she entered the girls bathroom.
"What's up?" Max asked, stopping beside her. Alec peered over his shoulder to check that the kitten was okay.
"I was just thinking, this probably ain't the cleanest place in the world."
"You're right." Max said, Alec nodded.
"She might catch something. How 'bout we go to Logan's?"
"So where'd you find her?" Max asked as they cycled along. The kitten was nestled in Alec's shirt.
"In the gutters. Poor baby was all cold and wet." He cooed at his chest and got some strange looks from passer byes.
"You two scare me." Original Cindy called behind her. Alec grinned.
"Just coz the kitten came to me." He said, they drew to a stop outside Logan's.
"We can't keep on calling her 'The Kitten'." Max said as they headed for the elevator.
"How 'bout Original Kitty, OK for short." Cindy suggested. Alec gave her a look and pretended not to have heard.
"Call her Nomad." Max suggested, smiling at the bundle of fluff in the crook of Alec's elbow.
"Nomad?" Original Cindy repeated.
"Okay - you guys suck at naming. We could always call her Ralph." Alec quoted.
"Ralph's a boys name." Original Cindy pointed out as the elevator came to a stop.
"Hey Logan, got lunch guests." Max greeted him as he opened the door. Logan looked surprised then horrified when he got a look at what Alec was cradling.
"What is that?" He demanded.
"Ssh! She'll hear you." Max snapped. Asha wandered up.
"Is that a cat?" She asked. Max and Alec rolled their eyes at each other and headed for the bathroom.
"Make sure it's warm water!" OC called to their backs. She turned to Logan and Asha. "I'll explain."
"There we go." Max said as she finished making bubbles in the sink.
"You sure you used the mildest shampoo?" Alec asked doubtfully as he began to lower the kitten into the water.
"I'm positive Alec." Max reprimanded softly. She jumped back as soon as the kitten hit the water for it began to thrash.
"Ow hey! Ssh 'kay. It's all okay. It's just - ow! Max help me out here!" Alec said, trying to keep a hold of the flailing, hissing bundle of claws and fur and teeth.
"Hey - kitten, stop it. You're hurting ow! You're hurting Alec! Not that I really mind - hey watch it!" Max tried to help, eventually they managed to dunk her and scrub at her fur.
"What colour is she?" Alec asked. Max shrugged.
"She looks silvery from here." She said, taking a glass of warm water and rinsing her fur with it.
"She's a silver tabby." Alec said with admiration. He grinned and fondled the kitten's ears. "You're a real beauty sis, looks must run in the family, eh Max?" He nudged Max with his elbow. She rolled her eyes and leaned down to speak to the kitten.
"You have to let him win sometimes, otherwise he gets too depressed." She confided loudly. The kitten miaowed. Max and Alec laughed.
"Where'd you learn so much about cats anyway?" Max asked when they'd finished drying her. Alec smiled down at the kitten and lifted her on to his shoulder.
"Rachel loved cats. Guess it rubbed off." He smiled at Max and the three headed back to the main area of the apartment.
"Hey guys." Max greeted. Alec sat down while Max rifled in his bag, looking for the goats milk.
"Whatcha doing?" Alec asked, playing with the little kitten.
"We put names in the hat." OC said. Asha grinned. "Max chose 'Nomad' was it? Alec chose 'Ralph' for some reason."
"I didn't -" Alec trailed off and glared at Max while accepting the bottle. "If she gets called Ralph I'll kill you myself." Max grinned at him.
"OC called her 'Original Kitty' and I wanted to call her 'Mrs Norris'." Asha turned to Logan with a slight frown. "Logan was boring and went for 'Kit'." She said, hitting him over the head.
"Ow!" Logan held the baseball cap out to OC and smiled.
"Why don't you do the honours?" He asked. OC reached in and plucked out a piece of paper.
"And the name of the kitten is . . ." OC began. Alec did a little drum roll noise. "Kit."
"Kit the kitten." Max repeated, trying to keep from laughing. Alec shifted the bottle and Kit to his other hand.
"Would have been better than 'Nomad'."
"Or Mrs Norris." Logan added. Alec grinned.
"Exactly. I think you got off lightly there Kit."
"Mrow?"
Please e-mail the author of this story with your comments. jillybean@yahoo.com