Mari & Ilna: What can I say? I'm enjoying this adventure every bit as much as I was on day one. Maybe more.

REAL Worlders-thanks for all the enthusiastic support. You guys are the best!

Here Kitty, Kitty (1/1)

Carrie stood in the doorway of the playroom with Catherine early Saturday morning and watched as the newest family member, an energetic orange kitten, wreaked havoc on Steve, Angie, and DJ's attempts to build a tower out of blocks.

"I still can't believe you have a cat," she said. "Actually, I still can't believe McGarrett agreed to a cat."

Catherine chuckled.

"Tell me every detail about the day you picked her up," Carrie pleaded. "There might be something in there I can tease your husband about later."

Catherine smiled. "Let's grab a cup of coffee and I'll tell you all about it."

Steve and Catherine listened from their own room as the unmistakable sounds of their daughter waking up and beginning to move around filtered through the baby monitor.

"What do you think the chances are that she forgot about the whole kitten thing?" Steve asked.

Catherine barked a laugh. "Absolutely zero. Get used to it, Commander. In a few hours we're going to be cat owners."

Steve let out a long sigh of resignation.

"You had your chance," she reminded him. "All it would have taken was a firm 'No' on Halloween night."

"Me?" Steve's tone was slightly indignant. "Why did it have to be me? You could have said it."

Catherine bit her lip and appeared to consider the idea then her face lit up with a smile. "I know I could have. But come on, that kitten is absolutely adorable and such a little fluff ball and she purred when Angie picked her up and she loves DJ."

"I knew it!" Steve clapped his hands together. "You were secretly Team Kitty all along."

Before the discussion could go any further they heard Angie open her bedroom door, but instead of footsteps heading towards their room they headed in the other direction. Towards DJ's room.

Catherine chuckled. "She's going to get reinforcements in case we changed our mind."

"I'll tell you one thing." Steve sat on the edge of the bed and began to put on his boots. "We're not giving it some silly name. We're gonna pick something cool. Like Cammie."

The dog's tail thumped against the floor at the mention of her name.

A few seconds later they heard Angie's usual open hand slapping against the door followed by her excited squeal. "Le's go! Kitty!"

As she reached the bottom of the steps Angie turned and headed towards the front door.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa." Catherine chuckled. "What about breakfast?"

"No tank-oo," Angie sing-songed. "Le's go."

Steve smiled as he stepped in front of her and redirected her towards the kitchen. "The shelter isn't even open yet. We have to eat breakfast before we go then stop at the pet store and buy the things we need for a new kitty."

Angie huffed, her annoyance at the delay written all over her face. "Ce-weal," she announced as she stepped around her father.

"I was gonna make pancakes," Steve called after her.

Angie grabbed DJ's hand and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Ce-weal, DJ? Then kitty!"

DJ bit his lip then looked at his parents. "I could eat cereal."

Catherine chuckled. "Cereal it is."

As the kids cheered and ran towards the kitchen Catherine looked at Steve and smiled. "Time to stop trying to delay the inevitable."

"I'm not trying to delay anything." Steve dropped an arm across her shoulders and kissed her temple. "I really wanted pancakes."

"How about General? That's a good name," Steve said as the family headed for Pet Smart.

Angie sat in her car seat behind Steve rhythmically chanting "Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!" softly.

"For a tiny orange kitten?" Catherine asked skeptically.

"It won't be tiny forever," Steve argued. "How about Trooper?"

"I think you're on the wrong track." Catherine turned towards the back seat. "Any other ideas?"

"I know," DJ piped up. "We found her on Halloween and she's orange. How about if we call her Pumpkin?"

Angie stopped chanting and looked at her brother with unvarnished adoration. "Pun-kin." She tested the word in her mouth. "Pun-kin."

"Do you like that name?" DJ asked her.

Angie nodded exuberantly then threw her arms in the air. "Pun-kin! Kitty!"

Steve sighed heavily. "Fine. But unlike Midnight this cat will not have a favorite color."

After a stop to pick up Kaitlyn, who had begged to join the family for this momentous occasion, they arrived at Pet Smart. When they entered the store, she led the others directly to the cat aisle, with which she was very familiar.

"Puw-ple." Angie pointed towards a fuzzy cat bed adorned with paw prints.

"You won't really know the kitty's favorite color until she has a chance to pick it herself," Kaitlyn explained. "But I think the purple is pretty."

"If it turns out she likes another color better we can donate this bed to the shelter and she could ask for another one for Christmas," DJ suggested.

Steve dropped his chin to his chest as Catherine rubbed his arm softly.

After securing all the other supplies they would need for their new family member they piled back in the truck and headed for the shelter.

Angie bounded through the front door a step ahead of the others and immediately looked up at the nearest shelter worker who was talking to Mrs. Curtis who had been fostering Lady and her kittens. "Whe'we kitty?"

"She's been a bit singularly focused since Saturday night," Catherine explained.

"I understand." Mrs. Curtis knelt in front of the excited toddler. "The kitten is waiting for you in the visiting room."

"There's just a little paperwork we have to take care of first," the shelter worker said.

Angie pinned her with a glare.

"I'll take care of that," Catherine chuckled. "While don't you all go visit with the kitty while I do."

"I can show you where the room is," Kaitlyn offered happily.

"I'll be there as soon as I'm done," Catherine said as she squeezed Steve's hand. "Go meet Pumpkin."

When Catherine entered the visiting room after filling out all the necessary forms and paying the adoption fee, she was immediately struck by one thing.

Possibly the thing that had created an immediate connection between Angie and the tiny orange kitten the second they met.

A bond that transcended their inability to communicate through words.

Pumpkin, it was immediately obvious to Catherine, was a climber.

Steve, Kaitlyn, Angie, and DJ were all seated on the floor in the middle of the room. Catherine watched in amusement as the tiny ball of orange fluff climbed up Steve's shirt to his shoulder, wiggled her butt for just a second, then jumped down to the floor below reducing Angie, DJ and Kaitlyn to uncontrollable giggles.

The kitten, clearly happy to be the center of attention, then rolled on her back, accepted belly rubs from both Angie and DJ, then scampered a few feet away to a small footstool, climbed to the top, and hurled herself off.

Then, having apparently tired herself out, she climbed onto DJ's lap, stretched half her body to Angie who was sitting directly next to her brother, and promptly fell asleep.

Catherine smiled. "Paperwork is all done. She's officially ours. What do you say we go introduce Pumpkin to her new home?"

THE END

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