Cat Scratch Fever (Open)

[Russell Sands]

Russell pulled up his car in the small parking lot outside the vet clinic with a quiet, frustrated sigh. He so often threatened to put that god-damn cat through a woodchipper, and the smug Siamese moggy seemed to thrive on the frustration and mayhem that it caused. Russell had never had a problem with cats before his (now ex) fiancé had brought Nico into their lives, and at first there had been no problems. However, the cat had soon learned that it could get away with murder, possibly literally, and it had created a reign of terror in the household. When Elizabeth had been forced to go back home the cat had to stay with Russell, and in truth, the only reason he hadn't rehomed the monster by now was because he'd promised Liz that he'd take care of it.

The Californian hated animal cruelty in every shape and form that it took, but even he did sometimes find himself wondering if Nico even counted as an animal. Often he was certain that it was in fact a demon in a very convincing cat suit.

After switching off the engine and going around to the side of the car, Russell opened the door and let Mitten hop out. The huge Presa Canario was holding her head low and looking very sorry for herself; a far cry from the very confident highly trained protection dog that she actually was. A gauze dressing was bandaged to her head, put together from the dog first aid kit that Russell kept at home, and he clipped her lead on before heading into the vet reception area. Normally he wouldn't have taken one of the dogs to the vets over a cat scratch because he was perfectly capable of patching them up himself, but this one was deep, very close to her eye and had bled quite a bit, so he wanted to make sure there was no more serious damage that he couldn't see.

Russell let the receptionist know he was here, having phoned up in advance on the way over, and then took a seat on one of the little benches while he waited. Mitten gave a quiet whine that seemed massively pitiful coming from her huge form, and she lay down in front of him with her head on his shoe. Who'd have thought this was a dog that regularly tackled people to the ground and would quite happily tear an arm off if someone harmed her master? He was right; Nico was a demon. As they were waiting someone else wandered in, speaking to the receptionist before sitting nearby. Russell gave them a small, polite smile. “Morning. How's it going?”

[Damien Tremblay]

Damien's problem was exactly the opposite of Russell's. His own cat was hardly a terror. At the moment, Neil Patrick Harris was firmly in the terror seat. He might have been close to a year old, but he still saw Charlie as something to chase. Sometimes the cat took it and played, and sometimes he ran off and jumped on top of something to hide. That had been this morning's adventure, only instead of leaping on top off the bookshelf in the living room, NPH had tried to nip at Charlie mid-leap. It had caused the little Burmese to twist awkwardly and scramble to the top, only to fall off the other side. He'd been limping on one of his front legs since. Damien had been hoping he'd walk it off, but an hour later it was clear that Charlie was still unhappy.

Needless to say, NPH was not in the good books right now, even if he'd only been trying to play.

It had taken some time to actually catch Charlie, and even more to convince him to get into his carrier. Damien had been as gentle as he could, but a final yowl as the cat allowed himself to be shoved into his carrier had nearly broken the law clerk. Hopefully, it was nothing major.

He'd called ahead to make an appointment, and was just a little jittery as he headed into the office, whining cat in tow. Charlie was never happy in his carrier, and when he was hurt? Pitiful little mewls sounded as he checked in and sat down. He hadn't taken notice of anyone else waiting, which wasn't exactly uncommon being that he was generally a little shy, but when a familiar voice sounded beside him, he looked up.

Well then. Russell, he knew. Offering a little smile, he dipped his head in greeting. "Hey, Russell. It's okay, I guess." He gestured to the carrier on the floor in front of him. "Charlie had a little accident this morning. So much for cat grace." It took him a moment to identify the dog in front of him, but he was fairly certain it was Mitten. "What happened to her?"

[Russell Sands]

Russell was torn between feeling angry at the cat and worried about Mitten, and it was twisting his stomach into an uncomfortable knot that he wasn't used to feeling. Even getting the hellcat fixed had done nothing to curb its aggressive behaviour. Nico could be a little short-tempered with people but he rarely did more than grumble and move away once he'd had enough of cuddles. With the dogs, however? That cat was a monster, and the dogs knew they couldn't retaliate without getting told off by their owner. Russell couldn't let them fight back against the cat; if Stat in particular got hold of Nico, there'd be nothing at all left of the moggy.

It wasn't at all like Mitten to be this quiet and miserable, which was of course feeding Russell's worry that the scratch might have been more than it seemed. It was obvious she was in pain, which was very tough for Russell to deal with, and he reached down and gently rubbed her ears in reassurance as they waited to get called in.

This was not at all how he had planned on spending his birthday.

Russell had let Damien settle down in the seat before addressing him, the blonde still gently fussing with Mitten's ears and scratching her neck. “What happened to him? Nothing serious, I hope.” Judging by the occasional soft mewls coming from the carrier it didn't exactly sound promising, but as much as Russell currently hated cats he did genuinely hope that Charlie would be okay.

When Damien asked about the dog, Russell gave her a pat on the side before sitting upright again. “The cat decided she didn't need two eyes and tried to remove one. I think she'll be okay, but it's a bit more of a mess than I'm comfortable patching up.” Mitten's ears quirked slightly and she lifted her nose to sniff in the direction of the newcomers, but she then flopped her head back down onto Russell's shoe with a strained whine. “She's feeling a bit sorry for herself, poor girl.”

[Damien Tremblay]

Damien had gotten lucky with Charlie. Much as he knew the cat wouldn’t dare admit it if he could talk, he often found himself curled up with Gypsy as they leached heat from one another. He hadn’t been the most impressed with NPH’s arrival, but they were both learning. Until NPH could respect the cat full time, Charlie had his hiding places. Just... not today. Poor kitty.

Charlie was normally a fairly quiet cat, really only vocal when he was playing or begging. God, the noises that cat could make when he wanted a piece of chicken. One would think he was being strung up by his toes and tortured, when in reality he was usually jumping up on the counter and twisting in circles, whining and pawing until someone gave in to his whining. In his kennel, however, he was emitting the saddest, most pathetic noises he could.

As Damien turned to answer, Charlie fished one leg through the door of his carrier and gently tapped at his owner’s leg, prompting the law clerk to idly run his fingers up the soft brown limb. “NPH chased him up a bookcase, and he fell off the top of it.” He was still trying very, very hard not to be too annoyed with the puppy. “I guess he landed awkwardly, because he’s been limping since. I think it’s his shoulder.” Another pitiful mewl came from the carrier, to which Damien just rubbed his paw a little harder and shushed him.

An eyebrow lifted slightly as Russell told him about Mitten’s injury. Sure, Russ had told him about Nico being a jerk cat, but this... was beyond jerk. “Jesus, Russ. That’s... wow.” Gently, he leaned over to scratch at Mitten’s fur. “Hey, girlie.” After a moment, he sat back up properly. “Gypsy seemed to really like her and Nessie. We should set something up so they can play again, once Mitten’s feeling better.” It would be good for the collie to have more friends. And he liked Russell.

[Russell Sands]

For a while now Russell had been considering getting a cage built for Nico. One of those big outdoor ones like a giant rabbit run, with a bit that went inside so he could come in, especially when it got colder. He had been putting the thought to the back of his mind, thinking it would be a bit unfair to keep the cat confined like that, but he could not ignore this mishap. It would undoubtedly improve the home life of the dogs, and if he made sure the cage was plenty big enough, it would probably be good for the cat too. Stat would only bark and threaten the cat when Nico bit his tail or scratched his flank, but if the cat was dumb enough to go for Stat’s eyes Russell highly doubted the dog would remember his training in that situation. Even though a cage wasn’t ideal, perhaps it would be best for all of them…

The noises coming from Charlie’s carrier were tough to listen to; Damien’s cat was clearly in pain and deeply unhappy and as an animal lover it was sad to hear. Mitten sniffed in the direction of the carrier, giving a low whine of distress at the cat until Russell gently shushed her by resuming rubbing her ears.

Russell gave a sympathetic smile as Damien explained what had happened to Charlie. “Ah, poor thing. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. The vets here are great; they’ll take good care of him, I’m sure.” Russell had been using the same vet for his dogs for years and never had a problem… though he did think they probably said some choice words about Nico after they had castrated the hell-beast. Their poor hands had suffered so when they had tried to get the bastard sedated.

As Damien’s hand approached her Mitten lifted her head, heavy tail thumping softly against the floor as she gave a lazy wag at the scratching. Russell nodded at Damien’s suggestion and started rummaging in one of his jacket pockets, going almost up to his elbow in it trying to find what he was looking for. “That sounds great. It’d do them all good to get out again, I think. Bring the troublemaker too, we’ll make an afternoon of it.” Finally his fingers closed around the silver business card holder and he pulled it out, fishing out one of the cards and holding it out to Damien. “Give me a call sometime, we can work something out.”

[Damien Tremblay]

Damien supposed he was lucky in that Charlie got along with Gypsy, and for the most part, NPH. NPH had taken more time, because Charlie was older now and NPH was still a crazy puppy. The worst was generally a small hiss and a well aimed swat, though rarely with claws. Sometimes he’d bunny kick Gypsy when they were both still babies and wrestling with one another, but even that had more or less ceased. He’d heard from Russ the stories about Nico, but... well... poor Mitten was proof that he was by no means exaggerating.

“Yeah, me too.” Nothing had seemed out of place or broken, but at the very least he suspected a pulled or strained muscle, which he knew from experience wasn’t the most pleasant sensation. He kept rubbing Charlie’s foot, trying to soothe the cat before he had a complete meltdown. At least he didn’t seem to mind Mitten sniffing at him.

Damien smiled at Mitten as he scratched her a little more, hoping it would take her mind off of her eye. “Poor girl, hey? Did Nico beat you up?” Perhaps if he ever visited Russ’s place, he’d need to bring protective gear. Or at least long sleeves. And perhaps leave his own dogs at home, if Nico was that disagreeable.

His attention was back on Charlie, rubbing his toes again as Russ dug for his card, so he missed all but the final production of the card holder. “Yeah, that sounds great. I’m sure they’d all have a great time.” NPH wouldn’t be in big trouble for too long. The overgrown puppy had a real penchant for getting out of it. Taking the card, Damien pocketed it before digging around for his wallet in his jacket pocket. Fingers closed around leather, and he rummaged for a moment before pulling out a somewhat dog eared business card. “Sorry it’s not as pretty as yours, but here.”

[Russell Sands]

The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous Russell realised the situation was. It wasn’t right for so much of his life to revolve so much around trying to keep the dogs faces away from the cats claws. As he sat there calming Mitten and casually watching Damien comforting Charlie, he decided that he would at least look into the big run-cages for the cat. It wasn’t ideal, not by a long shot, but he wasn’t going to keep putting himself and his dogs through all this drama any more.

Mitten was looking very sorry for herself but did perk up a little more as Damien’s attention towards her increased. She gave a low huff of a greeting and lifted her head, sniffing his hand as her tail thudded noisily against the floor. At least she seemed to be feeling a little better, and Russell smiled as he petted her side softly. “I bet she’s most upset that her boyfriend didn’t step in to save her. Outlast is normally always there to chase Nico off when he gets too bratty.”

One day Russell would remember to put a string on his cardholder and tie it to the buttonhole on his pocket. It was one of those things that he always said he had to do, and then always immediately forgot. Of all his possessions the thing he lost most in the depths of his pockets was that damned cardholder. Russell took the card that Damien offered, glancing over it before tucking it behind the holding clip on his cardholder and returning it to the bottomless pit of his pocket. “It doesn’t have to be pretty, as long as it does the job.” He gave a small shrug. “Truth be told, I didn’t design mine, that was all my PA. I used to make do with a number scribbled on a napkin, but apparently that doesn’t set the right tone.” Russell chuckled softly, his mood lifting a little. Perhaps his birthday wouldn’t be a complete trainwreck after all.

[Damien Tremblay]

Damien didn’t think he’d ever be so grateful that his pets all, for the most part anyway, got along. Sure, Charlie would hiss now and again if he wanted to be left alone, but he very rarely swatted at the dogs. Even if he did, the chances of him using his claws was fairly low. If he was annoyed, he’d growl, hiss, and slink off to hide until he’d calmed down. Nico was clearly something else.

“Aww, Mitten. It’s okay. I’m sure Outlast still loves you.” Being in a vet’s office seemed to curb Damien’s tendency to avoid talking to the animals in public. But Russell didn’t seem to mind, and Mitten was responding well to being spoken to. From the little he’d learned from Russ at the dog walk, he knew the dogs were partially working animals. But seeing Russ with Mitten now, it was hard to picture. “If it makes her feel better, Charlie would probably rather use her like a pillow or a heater than a scratching post, so she doesn’t need to be nervous around him.” He couldn’t count the amount of times that Charlie had been curled up with Gypsy when he came home from work, or a date with Josef. Now NPH and Gypsy tended to snuggle more, and he suspected that Charlie wouldn’t be keen to join their pile until NPH had calmed down.

The law clerk liked Russell. He seemed to be a good guy, and he did have a good sense of humor. Grinning, Damien shook his head. “No, I can’t imagine that a scribbled on napkin works for much beyond dating.” Being that that was how he and Josef had originally exchanged their cell numbers, he could say it at least worked in a pinch in the dating world. “Must be nice, though. Different business ventures.” Not that he’d trade his job for anything. He liked working behind the scenes, helping Josh help clients. But Russ’s job sounded interesting.

[Russell Sands]

Talking to animals wasn’t something that Russell would ever pull someone else up over, mainly because it would be ridiculously hypocritical. He was pretty much constantly nattering to the dogs when there was no other human to talk to, a habit that he had noticed had intensified in the months following Elizabeth having to leave. Mitten nuzzled at Damien’s hand and gave it an idle lick, seeming a little perkier now than she had been before.

“That probably would make her feel better, yeah. I’m sure she’d be grateful to know that not every cat is an insane eye-stealing psychopath.” Russell gave a small slightly tired smile as he affectionately rubbed Mitten’s side. “Even if I got rid of Nico, I don’t think I could get another cat now. I don’t know how my lot would take to one any more.” A quiet chuckle left his lips. “Might be amusing to see, though. Five giant mastiff’s cowering from a tiny mewling two-pound kitten.”

Russell believed that anyone who liked dogs and treated them with such care and respect was a person worth knowing, and he was growing rather fond of Damien the more he got to know the law clerk. “It is nice. I love my job and wouldn’t change it for anything, though I admit that sometimes it does grate on me a bit that I don’t have as much time for the dogs as I’d like.” He gave a small shrug of his shoulders. “Can’t have everything in life though, sadly. What about you? Does your work keep you content?”

[Damien Tremblay]

Damien had been in the same boat for a while, finding himself talking to Gypsy and Charlie more than most people might speak to their pets, especially when they were little. Gypsy had been brought home fairly soon after he’d come to America to work, though, prior to him really making any friends in Vermont. At least they were good company, even if they didn’t talk back.

“Yeah, the worst Charlie ever does is poke the dogs. Doesn’t even use claws on them. Just slinks up and taps them. No eye stealing.” Punctuated by another sad mewl, it only underlined the fact that Damien’s cat was about 98% harmless to Mitten. “Poor little kitten would rule the house and not even know it.” As funny as five big dogs cowering away from a tiny little ball of cat might be, Damien suspected that Russell wouldn’t actually try it.

“Yeah, I know what you mean about not having enough time with the pets.” Though it didn’t happen often, sometimes he had to pull a lot of overtime, or review cases at home if they were particularly involved. “I do like my job. A lot better now than I did in Vancouver. I worked for a firm that dealt exclusively with business law. There wasn’t much of a human element to it. Now I work with civil rights cases, which is a lot more rewarding.” Nothing was better than Josh coming back to the office with a win on his shoulders. “As much as my parents like to ask if I’m ever going to step it up and take the bar exam, I’m happy doing the work behind the scenes.”