"Hello, Hamada residence, this is Cassandra speaking."
" … Ah, yes, thank you for calling… that's great, I'm glad Marian's alright, and they're doing okay too… they said they can leave their mother…? well, that's good…"
"How many are there…? well, I can only imagine the stress… well, we did agree to take them… yes, the café is open on Saturdays… yes, 11 would be fine…"
"Sir, Hiro and I are both sorry, we didn't think this would happen, Baymax is usually so much more responsible… I know this is a big inconvenience… It's alright sir, I understand… alright, goodbye." Cass wanted to slam the phone down, but set it into the wall-mounted cradle gently.
"Where are those damn cookies?" she muttered as she headed for the cupboard.
"That's fifty cents in the jar," her nephew called out, and she grumbled as she dropped two quarters into an old coffee can sitting on the counter next to the fridge. "And the cookies are in the freezer; I like them cold." She grabbed at the box as soon as she yanked the freezer door open.
"How many of these did you eat?" she asked, a little annoyed at how light it was.
"Don't worry, I counted them out – exactly half," Hiro responded flippantly as he filled another food bowl, his tone earning him a frustrated grimace from his aunt. "I figured I deserved them after having to go out in that weather to get more cat-food," he said, waving his arm at the window to indicate the storm outside. "So, Aunt Cass, how many 'little angels' are we going to be taking in now?"
"Seven… seven more…" Cass answered, bracing herself against the counter with one hand and shaking her head as she shoved a handful of cookies into her mouth.
"Bringing us up to a grand total of twenty-two. Twenty-two kittens…" Hiro murmured as he set the first of the dishes on the ground. A tidal wave of cats rolled towards it, and the ones who couldn't force their way through mewled pathetically until Hiro set down the rest of the dishes.
"And that may not be the last litter we'll have to take in," Aunt Cass said darkly after swallowing. She grabbed a jug of water and went to refill their water dishes while Hiro tossed the empty cat-food cans into the recycling.
"Who knew that fat little thing would turn out to be such a player?" he wondered, looking at the tubby calico curled up in Baymax's lap. Mochi looked like he didn't have a care in the world as he watched his many offspring feast and cavort, purring as Baymax alternated between petting him and the two kittens that hadn't run to dinner. "I guess this is his payback for the rocket boots."
"This," Aunt Cass started, leveling her gaze on Baymax, "is all your fault."
"I do understand now that I did not fulfill my duties as a "cat sitter" properly. I apologize."
"People were leaving their cats here during the day because they trusted you, trusted us!" she said, Hiro unsure if she'd actually heard what Baymax said. "And now… these happened!" she yelled while gesticulating at the kittens eating away.
"Again, you have my apologies Aunt Cass," the robot answered, his tone annoyingly even, "but I was unaware that the female cats I was watching would enter the estrous cycle at approximately the same time."
"Honestly, Aunt Cass? I'm a little impressed," Hiro said, watching Mochi stretch and stand, which sent the two remaining kittens scurrying to the living room floor, "I didn't think he had it in him."
"And yet, when you saw what was happening," she said, ignoring her nephew's quip, "you did nothing. Why did you do nothing?"
"I have observed that, when you and Hiro pet Mochi, your neurotransmitter levels rise, your heart-rates and breathing steady, your production of stress hormones drops, and your blood-pressure lessens," Baymax explained. "I hypothesized that allowing Mochi and the other male cats to mate with the females would, through the kittens that would be born, allow others to experience those same health benefits."
"And what are we experiencing right now?" Hiro asked, crossing his arms.
"I believe you are experiencing the opposite."
"You are a master of understatement," Hiro said as he turned to his aunt. "Honey Lemon and Fred already said they'd each take one, but Wasabi has allergies, and Gogo… well, I think I'm wearing her down, but even then, that's still nineteen to go."
"Well, I'll put up some fliers in the café and around the neighborhood," Cass said with a tired sigh, "can you do the same at school?"
"I already did this morning," Hiro answered. "No bites yet, but hey, there's always hope."
"Hiro," Aunt Cass said as she leaned back against the refrigerator and buried her face in her hands, "Mochi was tough enough to watch out for when he was a kitten, and that was with you and Tadashi to help out. How can we possibly take care of this many until we find them homes?"
"I believe I may be of assistance," Baymax said as he stood, careful not to step on any of the kittens who had eaten their fill and were now wandering around the living room. "Hiro recently updated the database on veterinary medicine that he compiled for me, and with the super-capacitors he has installed, I no longer need to recharge more than once per day. I would be able to watch them, as I did their parents."
"Considering how they came about, I'm not sure that's exactly 'how' you should be watching them," Aunt Cass said. "But either way, you're going to need to watch them tomorrow, because Hiro is going to be taking Mochi to the vet."
"Why me?" The teen demanded petulantly.
"One, because I still have the café to run, two, the appointment starts when that man is bringing our newest litter by, and three," she said, pointing to Baymax, "he's your robot!"
"Oh, so he's my robot when things like this happen," Hiro said with a scowl, "but when he helps out in the café, that's when he's ours?!"
"Listen Hiro, I'm going to need your help on this!"
"Come on, I'm not that irresponsible!"
"I must advise you both to lower your voices," Baymax said as he held up a hand, "you appear to be upsetting the little ones." Some of the kittens had started mewling again, right as the two had started yelling at each other.
"Well, after tomorrow, we won't need to worry about Mochi fathering any more 'little ones,'" Aunt Cass said, making a 'snip-snip' motion with her fingers. Mochi had been walking by them, heading to the water dish, and had seen her hand motion. They both knew there was no way Mochi could understand the gesture, but they both saw that cat go bug-eyed.
"We may need to crate him tonight," she whispered, and Hiro nodded. He took a step towards the cat, who didn't waste a moment. Mochi yowled and bolted, shooting down the stairs far faster than his bulk would suggest.
"CATCH HIM!" Aunt Cass yelled as she ran down the stairs, Hiro right behind her. Baymax settled down on the floor, hearing the two yell as they chased Mochi around the café and the kitchen. More quarters would be due to the jar. He lay back on the ground and tilted his head up, and in a few moments all of the kittens had pulled themselves up onto his vinyl body.
"Hairy babies," he said contentedly as he twirled his fingers in front of them. Several of them began to bat and paw at them, Baymax pulling them back so the kittens leapt after them. The others continued their play with each other, unaware they had triggered the epic battle downstairs.