"Well," he sad to himself. "At least it's...got personality?"
Two months had passed since Maden first acquired the building, it had taken a lot of work but he was finally ready to open his own practice. Sitting alone in the newly furnished office the night before opening, the doctor smiled down at the grey tabby that was curled up on the desk in front of him. He had found the cat while wandering around the first day he came into the building, it had managed to climb into a hole in the wall and make itself cozy inside. At the time, he wasn't planning on keeping the little thing but he never quite had the heart to give it up and eventually he accepted it as his own.
The kitten, Othello was its name, looked up at him before stretching and hoping down off the desk and proceeded to wander off into the waiting room. Taking that as a sign, Maden too rose, gathered his things and eventually the cat, then started home, both excited and nervous for the coming day.
Although he would never admit it, Maden was grateful for Othello's company during the nights when he found himself reviewing case after case, trying to prepare himself for the next day. The little cat provided a distraction from disorders, pills, unsuccessful treatments, and the occasional attempted suicide. He was a reminder that not everyone in the world was slightly (if not more so) insane.
Jumping from the couch to his desk, Othello mewed, nuzzling the doctor's hand in an attempt to get attention, although at that point Maden was less than willing to give it. He'd been putting off reading through this case for a while now, and the patient was coming in the next day. Gently pushing the cat away, he was momentarily left alone.
That is, until Othello decided to lay right on top of the case files of one Diana Brown.
He couldn't sleep.
In fact, he'd been staring at the fan above his bed for at least two and a half hours now, if not more than that. Every time he tried to sleep, Maden found himself doubting his decision. Maybe the recommendation of ECT wasn't the brightest thing he'd done. There were risks, lots of them and really, he knew he pressured the family into signing the papers. But it was all for the best.
The best for them or the best for him?
Diana had made him look like a failure and he had never allowed /anyone/ to do that before. At least with ECT, there would be quick, guaranteed results and that's exactly what they needed. Results and good ones.
Othello padded over then, curling up against Maden's side and the doctor automatically began stroking the cat. A few minutes later, he'd managed to relax enough to drift into a restless sleep.
He'd known that Dan Brown would show up to his office, he knew it ever since the first day he laid eyes on the man.
He just hadn't expected it so soon.
Othello had been perched on the arm of one of the chairs in the waiting room, while Maden was closing up for the night. He had stayed behind to finish up paperwork and he was dead tired and just wanted to go home. But apparently fate had other plans.
He was just getting ready to turn out the light in the back room when the door opened and Dan and Natalie stepped in. One look told the doctor that something had happened, and it only took him a moment to figure out what it was.
"She left." Dan whispered, his voice shaking, when Maden stepped into view. "She left and he's back."
As if on cue, the cat bolted from his spot, disappearing into Maden's office while the doctor was left to deal with a broken man.
In the beginning he hadn't noticed the cat on his bookshelf, in fact when Maden had first come into the office, he would have sworn that it was a statue or something. It was only after Othello had knocked down a case file that Maden knew that it was obviously the cat that had been coming with him to the office since the first day.
Bending down to pick up the file, he opened it, just to see who had managed to fall from the shelf.
"Patient Q731: D. Brown," he read aloud. "Begin case history..."