Written for this prompt from the Quinn/Artie Forum:
"I owe you the biggest 'I told you so' ever!"
"Artie, I don't think that's a good idea," Quinn said, watching as he rounded up their cat, Oliver, with the intention of giving him a bath. "Here, let me help."
He shook his head. "I can give the cat a bath by myself."
"Or you can let me help. Trust me, an extra set of hands will come in handy. And you've never done it before."
He shook his head again. "I'm not an idiot, I can bath the cat."
"I didn't say you're an idiot," she said. "I just know from experience that bathing the cat isn't as easy as you might think it is."
He muttered something she didn't hear as he headed towards the bathroom, the cat held tightly under one arm.
Five minutes later, Quinn heard a crash in the bathroom.
"Is everything ok in there?" she asked through the door.
"Fine!" Artie responded, a little too quickly for her liking.
"Do you need some help?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard over Oliver's loud, angry-sounding meow.
"No! Don't come in!" he yelled. "Keep the door closed!"
She opened the door a crack, and peeked in. Artie was sitting next to the bathtub, trying to hold Oliver down with one hand and rinse him off with the other. Oliver was hissing at him, and the look on Artie's face told her that he was worried about what might happen next.
Grinning slightly, she opened the door wider, and stepped inside.
"Artie, you don't have enough hands," she said, walking slowly to the tub. "Here. I'll hold him, and you rinse him off."
"I don't need help!" he insisted, wrestling the cat, trying to hold him in position. "The situation is under control!"
She nodded. "Ok, then. I'll just sit here and wait for you to be finished. Let me know if you need an extra hand or two."
She sat down on the counter, and watched as Artie attempted to get the shampoo out of Oliver's long coat. Suddenly, he lost his grip, and Oliver was free.
She thought she should probably help without any further comment, but knew that it would just make Artie mad. She hadn't really completely figured out why he had insisted on bathing him by himself, but she had her suspicions that it was because he'd recently had to ask her for help with something he thought he should have been able to do without assistance, and that made him annoyed with himself.
"Quinn...I can't reach him," he said, as Oliver cowered in the far corner of the bathtub. "I'm going to end up in there with him if I lean any further forward."
"I'll get him," she said, as Artie called Oliver's name and patted his lap.
Before she could do anything, Oliver lunged at Artie, sinking his claws into his chest and hissing at him.
"OH MY GOD, GET THIS THING OFF ME!" he said, trying to dislodge the claws from his shirt. "He just bit me!"
Trying not to laugh, Quinn reached over, and gently removed Oliver's claws from Artie's chest. She lifted the cat off Artie's lap, and placed him back in the bathtub.
"Now, I'll hold him, and you rinse him off," she said. "Then we'll dry him with a towel, and he'll be good to go."
"I'm never touching him again," Artie said. "He's a beast!"
Quinn grinned. "Well, I said I'd give you a hand..."
"You could have told me cats turn into gremlins when they get wet! I guess I should have suspected as much though...he's usually cute like that little mogwai was...before he got wet."
She burst out laughing. "We need to get the shampoo off him. He's fine now...it'll only take a second."
He muttered something that she didn't quite hear, and then gently poured water over the cat, who looked quite content, but was meowing louder than Artie had ever heard him meow before.
When they were finished, and Oliver had run off to hide somewhere while he dried off, Artie unbuttoned his shirt.
"I look like someone's attacked and slashed me," he said, staring at the deep scratches all over his chest. "How are there this many scratches?"
"You forget that Oliver's a ninja," she said, handing him a cloth to wipe the scratches with before she put some antibacterial cream on them. "He's faster than lightning. Half of those were done before you even noticed he was on you."
Artie grinned. "I'm rubbing off on you, aren't I?"
She grinned back. "Maybe a little. Can I just say one more thing?"
He nodded.
"I owe you the biggest 'I told you so' ever!"
He rolled his eyes. "Thanks. I needed that."
She grinned. "Glad to be of service."
He grinned back. "And Quinn? Next time...I'll find someone to come help you give him a bath. I'm never doing that again."
A/N: QUARTIE FICATHON NOW IN PROGRESS! All the fics that have been posted so far are AMAZING, and anyone reading this should go read them all!
Or...better yet...join us and write some! Details can be found in the Quinn/Artie Forum, or you can PM me!