Title: P.D.o.A
Author: rachelAbendstern (aka abendstern1601, amaranth)
Characters: Alec, Original Cindy
Summary: Alec's adopted by a kitten. He gets in too deep.
Disclaimer: All things Dark Angel belong to James Cameron and Co., I'm just using their playground for my own recreation =)
Spoilers: none; can be placed anywhere between the episodes Two and Freak Nation, although it's probably closer to Two.
Author's note: After almost a year of inactivity, I'm cleaning out my harddrive. This is what surfaced. The story was inspired by a MASH episode, if anyone wants to know (or can guess). Also, before anyone flags me for plagiarism, this story was posted under the penname of amaranth on Raising Hell. Yes. That's me too. And as soon as I put in my response to this month's challenge prompts, I can prove it =P
~ P.D.o.A. - Public Display of Affection ~
There was a commotion outside of Jam Pony when Alec arrived at work that day. Some of the messengers huddled together, ooh-ing and ah-ing in front of a couple of cardboard boxes, their bikes leaning abandoned against the wall of a building.
Glimpsing Original Cindy's curly head in the midst of the bodies, Alec left his own bike next to the others and elbowed his way through to the dark-skinned beauty.
"What's this about?" he asked even before he reached her side.
"Alec!" Cindy greeted him with an unusually sunny smile. "Look here! Someone just left them in that box all on their own. Cold hearted bastard."
There was a definite pout on her lips now, and Alec looked curiously over her shoulder to see what the hell she was talking about. A scrawny, dirty brown bundle of fur looked back at him with huge eyes, cradled in Cindy's arms.
"It's a cat," he stated, thoroughly unimpressed.
The glare now directed at him, she corrected, "It's a kitten. A one week old, helpless, cute little kitten. And some heartless, mean person just abandoned the whole litter here." All the while she was petting and scratching the thing in her arms.
'The litter' were five other scrawny fur-balls currently being passed from hand to hand. Alec watched the whole process with a skeptic expression written plainly all over his features.
Rolling his eyes at the evil eye Cindy was still giving him, Alec shrugged. "It's just a cat, Cindy."
When Normal peeked out onto the street to see his employees dallying, already taking a deep breath for one of his regular dress-downs, Alec was on his way back to his bike. He passed his boss on the ramp leading down to the locker area just in time to hear the guy's infamous "Bip, bip, bip, people!"
666
The cats – kittens – where all long gone by the end of the day. Probably found a new home with some of those bleedin' heart messengers, Alec mused.
A soft, heartbreaking mewling stopped him in his tracks just as he was about to turn the corner and head home. All but one, apparently. If it weren't for his genetically enhanced hearing, he probably wouldn't even have heard the noise.
Frowning, he looked around the alley that housed the Jam Pony offices, but he didn't see the source of the sounds. He did hear scratching, though. Shaking his head at what he was about to do, Alec dismounted his bike and let his curiosity take over.
He found the kitten buried underneath the upturned cardboard box it had been found in, huddled in a sad ball of brownish fur, wide blue eyes and shrill, accusing crying. It was the same one Cindy had cradled in her arms earlier that day.
Alec let his backpack slip off his shoulders and knelt, staring at the pitiful creature before him. He honestly didn't get why ordinaries were so fascinated by these... kittens.
"What?" he asked the thing in front of him in exasperation when it didn't stop crying. "What do you want from me? I got you out of the box, didn't I?"
Yeah, talk about feeling stupid. Like that thing would actually answer him.
Only it did. Sort of. It crept closer to his backpack, still meowing, and sniffed, nudging the smooth fabric repeatedly with its shiny black nose.
His eyebrows rose in astonishment. Alec had a good guess as to what the cat had smelled. "Okay," Alec said, shrugging, opened the bag and rummaged around for the small carton of milk he kept in there.
"It won't matter, you know?"
He watched as the kitten almost keeled over into the open carton in its haste to feed. It was pretty funny to look at, actually, the awkward, two-legged position, drops of milk all over the little face.
"You still won't make it on your own. You're too young."
The cat didn't pay him any heed, sloppily eating its dinner. It was kind of... cute.
Alec found himself reaching out a hand to pet the little creature between its pointy ears before catching himself. He pulled his hand back as if burned and hastily looked around for anyone who might have noticed him and his foolish behavior.
Straightening back up, he snatched his rucksack almost angrily, grabbed his bike and resumed his way home.
It was just a damn cat after all...
666
It was just a damn cat, he told himself again the next morning.
And it totally wasn't the reason he had an additional carton of milk hidden inside his bag. No, that was just... in case. Just in case Sketchy or Cindy or, hell, Maxie would get thirsty enough to ask him for something to drink. Just in case Alec needed an extra source of Tryptophan today.
Still... he did have that extra carton of milk with him. What harm would be done if he... happened to leave it open for the cat to find. Kitten. One week young. Helpless. Kind of cute.
Not that he cared or anything.
The second day, Alec brought some leftover pork from his dinner the night before. He didn't know what else to do with it. It'd go to waste otherwise.
The third day, he put some cream in a small bowel on the street when no one was looking. It was a good source of Tryptophan, but not really his taste. Too... thick. Like molasses.
On the fourth day, he touched the brownish fur for the first time. The thing... kitten... circled around and through his feet at the end of another day, sabotaging each step he tried to take, rubbing up against his legs if he stood still for long enough. It just wouldn't leave him alone. Alec only meant to shoo the darn creature away, but once his fingers touched the fine hair, the purring started. It was so soft. Like silk. And it was past closing hours anyway, he was the last to go (except for Normal who would stay for another good hour or so). No one would notice if he indulged the annoying little thing for a few minutes.
On the fifth day, someone finally caught on to what he was doing. It wasn't Max, thankfully. Alec didn't know if Original Cindy was any better, though. She caught him scratching the kitten's chin (its eyes were closed in bliss, and the purr was louder than Alec thought possible from such a small creature). The woman just smiled knowingly, ruffled Alec's hair and left. Alec didn't know what to make of that.
A week later Alec heard one of his colleagues say that he saw a stray cat, a dirty brown, scrawny little thing, getting run over by a minivan. 'Roadkill at its best. Screeching tires and everything. Man, that sound was ugly.'
He didn't see the kitten that evening after closing hours. Nor the morning after that. And he didn't miss it, damn it. But his breakfast today must have been bad or something. That would explain the sick feeling to his stomach. It didn't explain the lump in his throat.
When Original Cindy walked up to him, warm, sympathetic eyes watching him, and said, "I'm sorry, Alec," he didn't ask what she was talking about. Instead, he slammed his locker shut, stared her down with hard eyes and his trademark smirk and told her, "It was just a cat, Cindy," before he went to Normal's counter to get his first package of the day.
It was just a damned cat...
~ The End ~