A/N - a drabble for SRP. Because we have the same type of humor. Warning for swearing because in my head, Mike swears. A lot. xoxo - tmtcltb
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AU (Worthy Man Universe). Short version is that Mike found Christine and his daughters, they adopted Kaito, and had another son. Pretty much everyone is alive. And there are a lot of kids.
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Pets
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"Kaito! Logan! Look at my new cat!" Frankie shrieked as Mike, followed by his wife and children, walked into the Greens' backyard for their standing Sunday afternoon barbeque.
Whitney was the first to react to Frankie's announcement, reaching out to scratch the ears of the pink-skinned, hairless animal that Frankie was holding out for them to admire. "It's so cute! What's his name?"
"This," Frankie said proudly, "is Nathan."
"My turn, my turn!" Yelled Logan.
"You need to be very careful and gentle," Christine said, taking the sphynx before Logan could grab him. She held the cat like a baby, kneeling down on the ground so Kaito and Logan, as well as three-year-old Trisha Miller, could see.
Leaving Christine to deal with the chaos caused by their offspring, Mike joined Danny at the grill. Helping himself to a beer from the cooler, Mike cracked the can before glancing at Danny. "I see that you got a rat."
"It's not a rat," Danny protested, flipping over a burger.
"Looks like a rat," Mike replied. "And don't burn my burger. The inside should be pink, not black."
Danny ignored the weekly jab about his cooking skills, or lack thereof. After all, the reason these events were held at the Greens was because Mike's first and last effort at hosting ended with Christine ordering pizza. "You know that Frankie's allergic to cat dander. And we couldn't get a dog because Halsey is too protective. Rabbits and guinea pigs are out because of his hunting instinct."
As Danny began a long-winded explanation of all the animals they couldn't get, Mike tuned him out. Watching the group of children, including his own, fawn over the ugly-ass so-called cat. Mike thought back to his last pet. A brown lab that he and Christine bought when the girls were little. Jax disappeared in the chaos of Deer Park and, given his age, Mike doubted that he survived very long once the twice a day food supply disappeared. Christine had mentioned that Shaylyn, in particular, took the loss hard. Mike hadn't really considered it before but, given how happy all of the kids were playing with Frankie's new ... animal, perhaps he and Christine should consider getting the kids a pet.
Danny was explaining that Kara refused to have a goat because of all the shit when Mike cut him off. "So you got a rat."
"It's not a..." Danny sighed in exasperation as Burk and Miller wandered over to the grill.
"Rats are actually rather intelligent," Miller piped up. "Courtney showed me an article about using them to sniff out bombs. "
"Now that makes sense," Mike replied. "There's plenty of rats and nobody cares if they get blown up. Seems like a good use for them."
Carlton snagged a piece of kielbasa, ignoring Danny's efforts to stop him. "No way am I getting on a ship with a bunch of rats. They're little germ factors."
"So are kids." Mike helped himself to a piece of kielbasa as well. It needed mustard but otherwise wasn't too bad. "And yet you elected to have one of those."
"Anyway," Danny interrupted, dumping the kielbasa into a pot of baked beans and slapping the lid on top before Mike could snag another piece. "It doesn't matter whether rats are brilliant or disgusting because we didn't get a rat. We got Frankie a cat. At Doc Rios's suggestion. He said that it's good for kids to have an animal of their own. Helps them process the trauma or something."
"Process the trauma?" Miller repeated, forehead wrinkling with concern. "What trauma? Do you think that we need to get Trisha checked out?"
Danny waved the spatula. "I wasn't really listening. That's Kara's department. Ask your wife."
As a worried Miller departed to find Courtney and determine whether his three-year-old needed her own damn rat, Christine and Kara joined the guys at the grill. Retrieving a bottle of wine from the cooler, Kara poured them each a glass.
Sipping her rose, Christine beamed at Mike. "Isn't kitty-rat the cutest thing? I was telling Kara that we should get one for Shaylyn. She would be over the moon."
"Kitty-rat?" Mike echoed. "I thought Frankie said it was named Nathan."
"Frankie named him Nathan." Kara took a sip of her drink, waving a hand between herself and Danny. "But we nicknamed him kitty-rat."
"Seems fitting." Mike said with a smirk directed at Danny. "After all, the thing is basically a rat."