"Remy?" Cameron removes her glasses and looks up from her book.
"Hmm?" I reply vaguely from my spot at the kitchen counter, trying to understand Cameron's new espresso machine well enough to make myself a cup of coffee.
"How do you feel about cats?"
My head jerks up. She is wearing the impish expression I always have trouble resisting. "I like them. Why?" I ask suspiciously.
"Well enough to get one?"
"You want a cat?" Cameron nods. "Which apartment would we keep it at?"
She shrugs. "I don't mind. We spend more time at yours though."
"Won't it get lonely?"
That afternoon we arrive at my apartment with not one, but two kittens and a trunkload of cat supplies. Cameron is ecstatic. "What do you want to call them?" she questions, carrying a towel lined box containing the two sleepy-looking black kittens.
"Why don't we spend some time with them before deciding?" I point out "Wouldn't want to name them wrong." I follow her with plastic bags.
We get everything set up and then curl up on the couch with a kitten each and throw names back and forth. "Shadow?" I suggest, stroking the neck of my purring charge.
"Yeah, I like Shadow." Cameron agrees. Her kitten is more adventurous and keeps trying to climb the front of her sweater.
I chuckle. "Maybe this one should be Shadow." I pick up the kitten in my lap and cuddle it to me. "Yours needs something with more pep."
We end up calling her Stardust.
The rest of the day passes in watching and entertaining the kittens, who seem intent on exploring every crevice of the apartment. Their clumsiness amuses me – I had always thought of cats as graceful.
We order pizza for dinner and Stardust sits in my lap as I eat a slice. Her sister has fallen asleep in their basket by the heater, uninterested by our human food. I laze against Cameron. "Bedtime?" she questions.
I nod "Soon."
She reads, stroking my hair, until she too is yawning.
The kittens follow us to bed and we fall asleep to rhythmic purring.
My alarm clock jars us awake. I stretch against Cameron, my movement causing protest from a small, furry body on my left. "Sorry." I inform Shadow, who yawns widely.
I turn over to find Cameron grinning at me, still bundled in covers. I kiss the tip of her nose. "What?"
"You're cute."
"Am not" I sit up.
She follows suit. "Whatever." She yawns and relocates Stardust so she can get out of bed. Stardust is unimpressed, but curls up in the warm spot she has left. Shadow joins her. We watch them, amused, before showering.
Work is unexciting. We have no new cases, so I work in the clinic until lunch. I find Kutner and Taub in the cafeteria and sit with them. Cameron appears not long after me, as does Foreman. The guys, at least, seem to have accepted what they assume to be a friendship between Cameron and I. She looks tired. "Lots of patients?" I question, stealing one of her fries.
"Yeah, there was a big pileup on the highway."
"Need a hand? We don't have any cases." I offer.
"Yeah. We spent the morning playing Monopoly." Kutner puts in. I snort. At least I did something productive.
Cameron nods. "We could use a few extra people if you guys aren't doing anything."
We all volunteer – keeping House entertained is only something you can do for so long.
We leave the hospital late, deciding on leftover pizza for dinner. I can only make it through a few bites. Cameron finishes my share. Saving lives makes her hungry. I snuggle into her, falling asleep. The kittens join me, warm and cuddly.
"Come on, Remy." Cameron pokes me, picking up the kittens. I grumble, comfortable against her. "Bedtime…" she murmurs in my ear.
I stumble from the living room to the bedroom, pausing to divest myself of clothes before falling into bed, too tired to bother with pyjamas. Cameron laughs as she follows me. I glare jokingly from beneath the covers and pull her towards me as she climbs in, wrapping her in my arms. Sleep comes quickly tonight.