"We should go on that," Tim joked as we watched the people on the television screaming blue murder at each other.

"Oh definitely, you could have thrown a chair at me and everything."

I lifted the remote and changed the channel to something slightly less dramatic and Tim pulled away from me to sneeze but stopped midway and laughed.

"Sorry, thought I had to sneeze," he said rather redundantly before cuddling back into me.

"Make me a cup of tea," I asked absently as I watched the polar bear on the television evaluate its predicament.

"Fine," he sighed dramatically with a roll of his eyes; making a song and dance of having to get up and comically slumping his way across the room to the kitchen. I heard him clattering around for a while before I eventually decided to get up and help knowing that he was probably still hunting for the teabags.

"Second cupboard on the left," I reminded him and he stepped across the kitchen in one elegant stride. Leaving him to fuss over the exact measure of milk that he thought would make me happiest I emptied the bin, trying not to breathe in the smell and hoping it wouldn't leak over my socks.

This was the horror of apartment living, having to go all the way downstairs to where the bins were which meant there was usual a silent match of wills between Tim and myself as to who would take the rubbish out. It was usually me because Tim was so stubborn about it and I couldn't stand to see it left there.

Stepping out into the night air I groaned at the feeling of the damp ground through my socks and then stopped short of putting the bag into the container when I spotted the mangled remains of Tim's cat.

Shit.

Whatever had gotten her had certainly made a meal of it. My stomach reeled at the sight of the tiny maggot infested corpse and I looked around for a way to lift it. Sacrificing my socks and standing on the wet tarmac I placed my hands in them and reluctantly lifted the cat and unceremoniously threw it into the dumpster. I felt awful but didn't want to think of Tim finding it like that. Gingerly I peeled the socks off and threw them in after it before heading back upstairs.

"Tim?"

He smiled as he handed me my tea and I didn't really feel in the mood for it anymore.

I took his hand in mine and lead him over to the sofa, motioning for him to sit down. He just looked at me innocently.

"Tim, I have some bad news."

He didn't say anything.

"I found Shadow."

His face lit up happily and my stomach clenched.

"Where is she?"

My lack of response seemed to make it clear and he looked at me anxiously.

"Ivo, what happened?"

"I'm sorry Tim, she was dead when I found her."

He sat for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah, okay."

I pulled him in for a hug and heard him sniffing before I felt the dampness on my shirt.

"Sorry," he said over and over.

"It was just a cat," he laughed harshly.

"It's okay to be upset, you loved her."

"Mmm."