It starts small.
It starts with Lucille, who despite all odds makes it through not only the first night, but the next, and then the next. When a week hits, Harry would probably trade his life for the dog's - so Aurora doesn't tell him she has to go. Harry shoots her grateful looks for a week and a half.
It starts with Lucille, but it certainly doesn't end with her. Three weeks later, Aurora attempts to sit on the couch and is met with a hiss - she looks down to see a mangy tabby cat, all bones and fleas and spite. "Harry!" She yells.
"Alfred told me I could keep Leopold." Are the first words out of the boy's mouth when he stumbles into the room and takes in the scene of an angry cat and an angrier Aurora. "And Lucille likes him."
Aurora sighs.
(Lucille does like Leopold, but it's apparent after a bad incident that leaves the dog with a long scratch above her eye that the feeling isn't mutual. They all get used to the sight of the puppy eagerly jumping around the old cat, only to yelp when met with a claw or a hiss - a sound which invariably sends Harry running into the room at a break-neck pace.)
Things pick up for their work, and Aurora's so busy running around and making sure Neil doesn't actually kill himself (he's back on his feet, but Siobhan left them with strict orders not to let him do anything strenuous - orders he seems intent on breaking) that she doesn't notice the extra few lumps in Leopold's blanket bed. When she does, she throws her hands up in the air.
"Why don't we just quit being con men and open a shelter?" She asks, exhasperated. Then; "No, Harry, we are - we are not opening a shelter. And you need to stop bringing home strays."
"But they were starving!" Harry exclaims piteously, and she rolls her eyes.
Things continue in this fashion, with more and more animals appearing around the flat seemingly overnight. And when Aurora wakes up one morning to a canary flying around her head and four cats curled up on the edge of her bed, she snaps.
"Tell him to get rid of them." She storms over to Alfred, her hair sticking up in tufts, still in her pajamas.
"Why me?" He stutters, looking at her with a look of trepidation.
"Because you were the one who said he could keep them in the first place."
"Okay." He agrees finally. "I'll tell him."
"Good." Aurora snaps, storming off into the kitchen and stepping over no less than five animals in the process.
It isn't until a week later, when Siobhan (who has been using the pretense of checking on Neil's recovery to come visit Harry on a regular basis) makes a comment about the increased amount of life in the household, that Aurora realizes that Alfred did not, in fact, talk to Harry about the animals. At least, not the way she'd intended.
"I told you to make him get rid of them." She hisses, pulling Alfred around the corner.
"I tried." Alfred pleads. "But he just looked up at me with those big puppy dog eyes and I - I couldn't."
"You couldn't." Aurora reiterates, deadpan.
"...No." Alfred looks mildly terrified, and Aurora lets out a deep breath.
"Alright." She runs a hand through her hair. "Congratulations, you are now completely in charge of all animal life in this household. Any mess, any escaped pet, any scuffle - is your responsibility."
"Really?" Alfred looks almost as excited as Harry had been when he'd brought home Lucille.
"Really." Aurora replies. "But Alfred? If a single animal that is not already here enters the flat, they are all going out into the street, puppy dog eyes or not."
"Got it." He replies with a small smile, and Aurora rolls her eyes. She's going to regret this, she can feel it.
They return to the kitchen, where everyone has mainly finished their food - Siobhan had helped Harry cook, so it's something startlingly normal this time, without even a hint of Jell-O.
"Hey, Aurora." Harry says around a mouthful when she sits down on the couch. "Can Siobhan come over tomorrow? She's going to teach me how to bring someone back to life!"
"That's not exactly it," the nurse says with flushed cheeks and a fond glance over at Harry. "It's a new technique I've been researching. It originated in Amsterdam nearly 80 years ago, and the Japanese are quite good at it - it's a way to keep someone alive after their heart has stopped, or their airways have been blocked."
"I don't see why not," Aurora replies nonchalantly. "And Siobhan?"
"Yes?" The nurse and Harry both look up at her in perfect synchonization.
"Please, know you're always welcome. You're around so much you're nearly family, at this point - you don't need to use the excuse of checking up on Neil."
Siobhan flushes. "I hadn't -" she starts, before realizing the futility of it, and settling with "thank you."
Later, once supper is cleaned up and the house is (relatively) calm, Aurora settles onto the couch with a book she's been trying to read for two weeks. She has to share the space with Ghost, an albino cat, and Snuggles, a dachshund - but they're tired and quiet, so it's really kind of a comfort.
Neil is sitting on the chair in the kitchen, and Tom's leaning up against the cupboard next to him. They're talking in hushed voices, but every once in a while the conversation will be punctured with a burst of laughter that causes Aurora's lips to turn up. They haven't fought since Neil's accident - and Tom has barely left his side, either. She's noticed that Tom's started looking at Neil the same way Harry looks at Siobhan, but she hasn't mentioned it - doesn't want to push either of them towards a realization they haven't reached. She tries to ignore the pang of fear that hits her whenever she thinks about it - she doesn't want to think about the hiding and the terror that lies ahead. She knows a little too well what that feels like.
"Hey." Alfred settles onto the armrest of the couch next to her. "How's the book?"
Aurora gives a shrug. "I haven't gotten past the first page," she admits. "I think reading's giving me a headache."
"Do you want me to read it to you?"
It's unexpectedly sweet, and Aurora hands over the book with a smile.
"I don't need it." Alfred replies, sitting on the couch next to her. When she raises an eyebrow, he flushes and elaborates. "Brave New World is one of my favorite books. I, um, have it memorized."
"Alright." Aurora's hands fold over the paperback, and she closes her eyes. "Tell me the story."
Alfred takes a deep breath. "A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories." His voice is inexplicably soothing, and Aurora can feel herself begin to relax. "Over the main entrance the words, Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, Community, Identity, Stability . . ."