2014
Eva was running late. Her lecture on selective reforestation had overran and she had forgotten her metro card, meaning that she had to run halfway across Manhattan for her closing shift at the coffee shop. Rucksack slamming into her back with every step, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve as she jaywalked – well, jayran – across the street and towards a back alley that would allow her to cut half a block from her route.
She slowed down in the alley to get her breath back, bracing herself against an open dumpster. "I gotta get my life together," she muttered to herself, not for the first time.
"Mew."
Eva jumped. What the hell was that? She could have sworn she was alone down here, but she had definitely heard a noise.
"Mew," it went again. It was coming from behind the dumpster, where the thrown-back lid was making a rudimentary shelter between it and the wall. Eva frowned.
"I haven't got time for this," she said, and started walking away. She got three steps before she heard the "mew" again, louder this time, as if it knew she was leaving. "Not my problem… not my problem…"
"Mew!"
"God damn it!"
She spun on her heel and crawled underneath the dumpster, wrinkling her nose at the smell. In amongst the usual Manhattan trash, there was a damp, sagging cardboard box with a tattered blanket in it, clearly abandoned. Eva dragged it out into the sunlight and peered inside to see a cat, sickly-looking and with patchy, matted fur, curled up in a corner.
"Mew," it said, pitifully.
Eva swore under her breath. The cat needed to be fed and warmed and probably medicated for all manner of gross diseases, but she had to get to work for, like, ten minutes ago. She should probably just leave it here. There was the possibility of telling someone, but what if they were a crazy cat killer or something? What if they just didn't care?
Leave it be, Kresk, she told herself. It'll be nothing but trouble.
She bit her lip. The cat, sensing someone was looking at it, wobbled up to the edge of the box where her hand was lying. It was, admittedly, quite cute.
"Screw it." She took off her rucksack and sweater, wrapped the kitten in the latter and tucked it safely in the bottom of the former. "I'll take you to the shelter and see what they gotta say about you. Man, I hope Mr G doesn't fire me."
%
It was ten minutes to closing time, and the shop was empty when Tony Stark walked in. Eva jumped up from under the counter at the sound of the door opening and hurried to wash her hands for the twentieth time that shift. "Usual six?" she asked.
"If you'd be so kind. Decaf for Rogers, it's past his bedtime. You look very harried this evening," Stark said, taking off the sunglasses he was wearing despite it being night time outside.
"What?" Eva said distractedly.
"Strained. Under pressure. Buckling under the immense responsibilities of the average New York barista."
"Whatever."
"Charming. You're lucky the java here is better than the hospitality."
"Mew."
Eva froze mid-espresso.
"What was that?" Stark asked, eyes narrowing.
"What… what was what?" Eva replied, as innocently as she could.
"That noise."
"Coffee machine."
"No, it wasn't. Is there an animal in here?"
"No!"
"Mew."
"Shut up!" Eva hissed.
"Are you a catnapper, coffee girl?" Stark asked, folding his arms and grinning.
"No…"
"Show me the goods."
Eva wilted. She crawled underneath the counter and pulled out a discarded java bean crate that she had lined with clothes from the lost property box. Inside the cat was curled up asleep, having been fed some milk and some kebab meat Eva had got from a street vendor.
"That is so unhygienic," Stark remarked.
"I'm keeping her away from all the food. Please don't tell my boss," she begged. "He was on his way out when I came in so he didn't have time to ask questions, and it's not like it's been busy this evening."
"Where'd you find it?"
"Abandoned a couple blocks away. I took her to a shelter before I got here and I think I'm gonna have to leave her there, but they're already overfull and you know what they do with animals they have no space for."
"Right," said Stark, "send them to the gross mongrel cat farm upstate."
"Oh, shut up," she sniffed. Don't start crying in front of Iron Man, Kresk.
"Why don't you keep it?"
"The vet bills are thousands of dollars. If the shelter can't afford them then I definitely can't."
"Hmm," said Stark, staring at the cat. "You know what I'm thinking?"
"That your girlfriend would really like a cat?" she asked, hopefully.
"Where's my coffee order?"
Eva scowled.
"Please disinfect yourself before continuing," Stark added.
She pulled the rest of the drinks together. "Call it twenty bucks and we're quits," she said.
"Bribery to keep my mouth shut about your little stowaway, huh?"
"Just cough up, Stark."
He pulled a crisp twenty-dollar bill and held it out to her, then snatched it away just as she reached out to take it. Eva glared at him as he turned around, got something else from his pocket and fiddled with it, before spinning back round and handing the bill to her wrapped in something else.
"Your tip," he said.
She unfolded the extra piece of paper. It was a cheque from Stark Industries for two and a half thousand dollars, with GROSS MONGREL CAT'S OWNER scribbled in the name section.
"For the vet bills," he added. "In case that wasn't clear."
Eva stared at it. "I… can't take this."
"Don't go all noble on me," Stark sighed. "It doesn't suit you."
"No, I mean – I can't, literally. Won't the check be void if you don't use my actual name?"
"Oh, right." He took it back, opened his check book again and wrote out another one. "What is your name again?"
"Eva Kresk."
"Well then, Eva Kresk," he said, handing it over. "Promise never to bring that little ball of fleas and worms into work again and we'll say no more about it, hm?"
"Sure." She folded up the check, put it in her back pocket, and cashed the twenty bucks into the till as her customer took the cardboard tray of drinks and made his way to the exit. "Mr Stark?"
He paused, looking over his shoulder. "Yes, coffee girl?"
"Thank you."
"I thought I said we'll say no more about it?" He winked, and the door slammed shut behind him.
Eva looked down at the cat. "I guess you'll need a name, then," she said. "Welcome to your new life, Rachel Carson."
A/N I just... love cats so much, you guys.