Chapter 22
Capitol Plaza Apartments
Unit #25
Washington DC
Penelope agreed to give Essa a ride home. After they left Spencer cleaned up a bit, dishes stacked for washing. He realized about halfway through that he was smiling.
He was normal.
He was normal. He was utterly blissfully normal, in the realm of Q sexuality, when it came to his needs and his desires, he was utterly average. He was not anything like Derek Morgan because he was not human, and that was perfectly okay. In fact, there was nothing at all wrong with being a little different than humans. Maybe he should just embrace it.
Maybe he should.
He found his phone and checked the time. "Hi Mom, I hope it's not too late."
"No, not at all. What's wrong?"
"Nothing! I was just wondering, how did you order those gloves?"
"Well, I could show you. But I already bought some for you."
"Really?" How did she know?
"Yes. Mothers know things. Come pick them up tomorrow so you have them for work. I'll leave them at the front desk, some of the ladies here are taking me on a craft crawl. We're going to quilt shops or something."
"You don't make crafts."
"No, I just want to get out."
This was why he was glad she was feeling better. So she could just go spend a day out with friends when she wanted. It seemed like a small thing but it was huge. "All right. I'll come see you later in the week then. I have some things I want to ask you about. Just not over the phone."
"All right. I love you son."
"Love you too Mom. Bye."
As Spencer hung up he heard something at the bedroom window. Something scratching. That window had the fire escape, which meant it could be a person, perhaps trying to break in, which made his hackles go up. He found his weapon and a flashlight, and carefully eased in to look.
It was a cat.
There was a cat sitting on the fire escape, it's eyes glowing green in the beam of the flashlight. It was a large grey tabby, with enormous white paws, green eyes and a very sweet face. It started scratching at the window again, and opened it's mouth in a plaintive meow.
As much as Spencer was afraid of dogs he did like cats. He would have one but he traveled too much, really. He did dote on Sergio though, and accepted cuddles from what had become the de facto team cat whenever he could. There was a good ten feet between the ground and the bottom of the fire escape, it likely didn't come up. It must have come from another apartment. He had no problem going to open the window. "Hi. Did you get lost?" He held out his hand for the cat to sniff.
The cat rubbed against his hand with a happy purr, then jumped down into the room.
"Hey! I didn't invite you in!" Thankfully the cat didn't move that quickly. Spencer was easily able to catch it and hold it in his arms. "You can't adopt me. I'm not home enough."
The cat looked up at him with those big, green eyes and started purring up a storm.
Maybe he should visit Sergio more often. There was something remarkably blissful about holding a purring cat. "Okay, you can stay for a visit. But when I go to bed I'm putting you out. Now I need to finish the dishes." He put the cat down so it could explore, but he also left the window open. He expected that the cat would sniff around the apartment, hopefully not spray anywhere, and then head back to wherever it came from when curiosity was satisfied.
As he stepped up to the sink the cat jumped up on the counter to watch him. "I'm washing dishes. It's not that interesting." He said.
The cat settled into the perfect Egyptian posture and looked at him with those big eyes.
"You should have been here earlier, when my friend Penelope was here. She adores cats. She would have given you lots of attention. But then my…yea, I can call him my friend, I think, after tonight. My friend Essa was here as well and I don't know how he feels about cats. So maybe it's all for the best. I don't know. Anyway, you missed a very interesting discussion on Terran vs Q sexuality." It actually felt like the cat was paying attention. The way it looked up at him. "I'm not human, by the way. Although given that I probably don't smell human you probably know that. And, you know, that's okay."
The cat closed it's eyes and started purring, like it agreed with that statement.
"So I'm going to finish these up, make my protein shake, and go watch some TV. I need to catch up with The Expanse. It's very good sci-fi by the way. It you like sci-fi. Although most sci-fi is supposed to be predictive of the future and since the Q are settling on Mars it's really not." He finished the dishes, dried his hands, and put the cat down on the floor. "Go explore. Or go home, I guess." Spencer watched the cat walk into his living room, made up his protein shake, put some cookies in a bowl, and settled into his chair to watch TV.
A moment later he had a cat in his lap.
"Really?" He asked.
The cat turned around once and settled, looking up at him with that sweet face, purring up a storm again, and even kneading away. Every feline indication of being very happy right where it was.
Spencer couldn't help it. There was something so right and peaceful about having this cat on his lap. It was like it belonged there. He started petting it and it purred harder. "Okay, you can stay until I go to bed." He said. The cat immediately draped into a boneless pile. He chuckled and kept petting.
They stayed there through the show. After Spencer felt so comfortable he picked up a book and read for thirty. By then the cat was snorting. He hated moving it, but he needed to get to bed. He was supposed to go cheer on Henry's soccer team in the morning. "I'm sorry, but you have to go. It's bed time." The cat looked up with those big eyes as if to ask if he was really moving him. "I've enjoyed the company but you need to go home."
With that he picked the cat up, put it back out on the fire escape, and closed the window.
He put his glass and bowl away, tidied up the house, and turned off the lights. Then he went in the bathroom, did what wanted doing, brushed his teeth, and went into the bedroom.
The cat was frantically scratching at the window, and yowling so desperately he could hear it through the glass.
Spencer went and opened the window, he thought just a little. "You need to…". Nope. The cat squeezed through the window and ran into the other room. Spencer went after it but it had completely disappeared. Not under the couch, the chair, the desk… "Okay, fine." He put a block in the window to hold it open just enough for a cat but not enough for a human. "Just don't pee in the house." With that he went to bed.
AS he was drifting off he felt a soft weight jump on to the bed and pad up to his pillow. Whiskers gently brushed his face as he was sniffed. And then a furry cheek rubbed his.
There is something comforting about a cat in the bed, he thought, as the soft weight settled in against him. He curled around it and drifted away to sleep.
