"Please Dad?"
"No."
"Pleeeeaaase?"
"No."
"How can you not like him?" With this Claire shoved the kitten within two inches of Noah's face, causing him to trip backwards.
Noah's hesitance wasn't because he didn't like animals. Actually, part of it was (he was still often annoyed by Mr. Muggles), but that wasn't why he didn't like this kitten. It just seemed... well, he couldn't really place it. But Noah didn't like the kitten.
"Look, Claire. Why don't we just take him to the animal shelter?" he suggested.
"No!" she squealed, "He'll be sad and lonely there. They might even put him to sleep. He just wants someone to take care of him. He was practically on our doorstep."
"That's because he wanted to dig through our garbage. That cat is just a mangy pest!" Claire's face became a well-known barrier before tears.
Uh-oh. That had definitely been the wrong wording. His relationship was his daughter was tenuous as it was, with the whole hunting down people with powers thing. Even now she was only here in California until her college started. He had been hoping to improve their relationship. And that was working out soooo well.
"You know Dad, that's low, even for you." Kitten in hand, she stormed off.
Noah sighed, and sat down in his chair, and put his head in his hands.
"Hey Mom, I found this cute little stray kitten on the porch, can we keep him?"
"Sure!"
"Thanks."
Claire smiled. She didn't know why she hadn't just gone to her mom in the first place.