(no subject)
Title: An Unexpected Gift
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Pairing: Majorly Cara/Kahlan, but if you squint it can be read as Cara/Kahlan/Richard.
Rating: PG
Warning: A bad word or two, but otherwise harmless.
Summary: Cara brings Kahlan home an unexpected gift.
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of the Seeker or any of its characters.
A/N: Modern AU. Not a huge fan of this as it stands, but feeling like it's not going to get any better so I'm posting it. Hopefully someone will enjoy it.
For the thousandth time that day, Cara looks down at the tiny teeth marks imprinted in her left boot, the tiny impressions marring the red leather. She huffs a sigh.
Three days ago, Richard had brought home a puppy, a brown and black mutt that decided this morning that Cara’s favorite boots would make a good chew toy. Cara had found the beast sprawled out at the foot of her bed, teething on red leather. Richard had scooped the puppy up, apologizing profusely, before Cara could retaliate against the creature. Cara yanked on her boots and stormed out of the house, but not before she heard Richard mumble that maybe if she put her boots away, Rocky wouldn’t be teething on them.
Rocky. That’s what Richard named the damned thing. The name was fitting, Cara thought, considering the beast was as dumb as a bag of rocks. Cara had never liked dogs. In all honesty, Cara didn’t particularly care for any animal, but she hated dogs. Every dog she had ever met was lazier than a sloth on sleeping pills, dumber than dirt, and more annoying than a two year old child. They were always so dependent and eager to please. Cara hated them.
She had walked until the anger boiling in her chest turned into a low simmer. She stopped at a coffee shop, mainly so she could use it as a reason for storming out of the house, and bought herself a large, regular coffee and a caramel latte for Kahlan. Richard could buy his own damn coffee.
She was on her way back to the house with the two coffees when a man, about the same width as the sidewalk, slammed into her. She managed to keep Kahlan’s latte in hand, but her own coffee went toppling to the ground, spilling across the cracked pavement.
“You fucking asshole! Watch where you’re going!” she shouts.
The giant man doesn’t even turn around and Cara is about to go after him when a small, white blur races past her feet. She looks down to see a white kitten lapping her coffee up from the sidewalk.
Cara glances around before she kneels down. If there had been anyone around, she wouldn’t have done it. She refuses to let anyone see her kneeling down to pet a kitten. She tilts her head to the side, watching as the kitten licks up her spilled coffee. The kitten’s fur is pristinely white, but the tip of her nose, tail and paws have rusty, red markings.
Cara is just about the reach out and brush the kitten’s fur when, out of nowhere, a blur of orange fur rushes up and bats her hand away. The orange kitten hisses at Cara, arching its back, placing its small body between her and the white kitten. The orange kitten’s fur is mottled with dirt and mud and there is a scratch just above its right eye. It’s cerulean eyes are narrowed into a glare.
The white kitten glances up with bright blue eyes from where it is lapping up Cara’s coffee. It meows softly and nuzzles the space beneath the orange kitten’s chin. The orange kitten deflates a bit, its back lowering and its fur settling back to its original position. Only the fur of its tail remains flared out. The white kitten stands on her back legs, sets her front paws on Cara’s thigh, and leans forward to nudge her stomach with her head.
Cara spares a glance at the orange kitten, still standing in the puddle of coffee, before running her fingers through the white kitten’s fur. The kitten begins purring, nudging Cara’s hand with its head.
Cara doesn’t know what she’s thinking when she lifts the little white kitten into her arms, but she supposes it has something to do with remembering that Kahlan once told her how much she loved cats. The orange kitten does not appear to be too happy to see Cara holding its companion and Cara can hear a low, rumbling growl coming from deep in its throat.
She watches the little orange tabby for a moment before reaching over to pick it up as well. Instead of climbing into her arms, as the white kitten had, the tabby’s paw bats Cara’s hand away.
Cara rolls her eyes before narrowing them at the tiny ball of orange fur. “Fine,” she grumbles before she realizes that she is actually speaking to a small cat. She promptly closes her mouth and stands.
With a parting glance at the orange kitten, Cara turns and walks away, heading home. The white kitten purrs contentedly and nudges Cara’s jaw with its head. When it meows at something over her shoulder, Cara turns to find the orange tabby following her. If a cat could sneer, that’s what the tabby does to Cara. Cara retaliates with a sneer of her own.
When she reaches the house, Cara rethinks her decision. What if Kahlan doesn’t want a cat? What if Richard’s mutt decides that they will make for a good snack? They are not prepared for two cats. They don’t have food to give them. What the hell kind of food would you even buy them? Do they need special food because they’re kittens, or are they supposed to have milk. They’d need a litter box. What if they don’t know how to use it? She certainly doesn’t know how to train a cat. She’s never owned an animal in her life. Cara glances down at the kitten in her arms, almost fully prepared to put it back down on the sidewalk and leave it there, but when the kitten nuzzles it’s nose into the crook of Cara’s arm, Cara decides she will let Kahlan make the decision.
She opens the door and steps inside, sparing a glance back at the orange kitten. The kitten peeks around the doorframe and into the house.
“Well, are you coming or not?” Cara asks, growing impatient.
The kitten glares at her once more before sauntering inside, stopping by her feet. Before the tabby can react, Cara scoops it up by the scruff of its neck. It twists in her grip, growling, as Cara walks further into the house.
“Cara, who are you talking to?” Kahlan’s voice comes from the living room and Cara, again, become concerned with how Kahlan will react to two kittens. She doesn’t answer Kahlan’s question and pauses just outside the living room. Perhaps this was a bad idea.
She shakes her head and wills herself to take the final few steps into the living room. Kahlan is sitting on the couch, her back to the hallway, watching TV.
Cara strides over to the couch and drops both kittens unceremoniously into Kahlan’s lap. “Here.”
The orange kitten growls and immediately leaps off Kahlan’s lap and onto the back of the couch, glaring its kitten glare at Cara. The white kitten simply shifts in Kahlan’s lap until it is curled into a ball.
Kahlan looks back at Cara, her blue eyes wide. “Cara, they’re adorable! Where did you get them?”
Cara shrugs, leaning against the wall behind the couch. “Found them.”
Kahlan smiles that singular smile she gets when she thinks Cara is being particularly adorable. Cara both loves it and hates it at the same time. She is Cara Mason. No one should be thinking she is adorable.
She is pulled from her thoughts when Kahlan reaches up to pet the orange kitten.
“I wouldn’t…” Cara begins, but she falls silent when the tabby merely flinches before letting Kahlan brush her fingers over its fur. It doesn’t look particularly happy until Kahlan scratches just beneath its chin and the kitten begins purring, eyes narrowing to mere slits. Cara arches an eyebrow.
“Come here,” Kahlan tells Cara, sitting up to make room for Cara on the couch.
“I don’t…” Cara begins before Kahlan interrupts her.
“Cara, come here,” Kahlan says again, glancing with amusement at the blonde over her shoulder.
Cara rolls her eyes, but saunters over and settles into the couch beside Kahlan, leaning against the armrest. The orange kitten eyes her suspiciously even as it leans into Kahlan’s touch. Kahlan leans back into Cara’s side, wrapping the blonde’s arm around her shoulders and lacing their fingers together, while she runs the fingers of her other hand through the white kitten’s fur.
“Do you like them?” Cara asks and only Kahlan would be able to detect the slightly self-conscious tone in her voice.
Kahlan looks over her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the blonde’s jaw. “I love them, and I love you.”
Cara tenses, ducking her head and burying her face into the crook of Kahlan’s neck. It should not be this hard to say, not after three years, but Cara’s throat still closes around the word. She presses a kiss to Kahlan’s shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut as she wills the words to come.
“It’s okay,” Kahlan says after a minute. “I don’t need to hear it.”
It should make Cara feel better, but it doesn’t. “You deserve to hear it.”
Kahlan squeezes her hand. “I don’t need to hear the words to know the truth of how you feel.”
Cara rests her forehead on Kahlan’s shoulder and holds her tighter. She doesn’t argue because she knows it is pointless. Kahlan will not allow her to feel bad that she cannot say those three small words. Instead, she heaves a sigh and changes the subject.
“They’re going to need names,” she mumbles into Kahlan’s shoulder.
Kahlan squeezes her hand again. “We’re not even sure if they’re boys or girls yet,” she says with a smile.
Cara shrugs. “What do you want them to be?”
Kahlan chuckles. “Cara, I can’t just will them to be a certain gender.”
“I know that, Kahlan,” Cara says, rolling her eyes. “I meant, if you had your way, would they be boys or girls?”
Kahlan thinks about the question for a moment, her fingers brushing over the white kitten’s fur. “Girls,” she says a moment later. “I want to call this one Belle.”
Cara rolls her eyes, groaning. “I’m taking that movie away from you,” she says before angling her head in the direction of the orange kitten. “And we are not calling that one Beast, even if it does seem fitting.”
Kahlan laughs and they both hear the front door open and Rocky’s paws scrambling across the hardwood as he tugs on his leash. The orange kitten’s eyes widen at the sound and its fur stands on end. The tabby leaps from the back of the couch into Kahlan’s lap and places itself between the white kitten and the sounds coming from the hallway.
Hearing Kahlan’s laugh, Richard comes into the living room with Rocky trotting closely behind. He stops in his tracks upon seeing the two kittens in Kahlan’s lap. “What’s this?”
“They’re cats, Richard,” Cara says as if she’s speaking to a particularly slow child.
Kahlan elbows the blonde’s ribs gently, as if to tell her to be nice, before she turns to Richard. “Cara found them.”
Richard nods. “Did you call the shelter?”
Kahlan looks horrified. “No! Richard, I want to keep them.”
“Cats are destructive,” Richard says, frowning.
“So is your dog,” Cara argues, glaring up at him.
“He’s teething, Cara,” Richard says in exasperation. “He’ll grow out of it. Cats are always destructive.” He gestures with his hand to the orange kitten. “Look. That one’s already gotten mud all over the couch.”
“It won’t be covered in dirt all the time, Richard,” Cara snipes. “It needs a bath.”
“Have you ever tried to give a cat a bath?” Richard asks with as much sarcasm as he can muster.
Cara glares, but Kahlan speaks up before she can say anything. “I want to keep them, Richard.” Richard frowns, but it is beyond his power to deny Kahlan anything so eventually he nods. Kahlan smiles. “Could you tell us if they’re boys or girls?”
“What makes you think I would know how to tell?” Richard asks, even as he reaches for the orange kitten.
“Because, farm-boy, you were practically raised by animals,” Cara says.
Richard glares. “My grandfather had a farm. There’s a difference between living on a farm and being raised by animals.” Cara just shrugs.
As Richard reaches for it, the orange kitten growls, taking a swipe at Richard’s hand. Richard manages to scoop the kitten up without damage, but the kitten doesn’t stop growling and hissing at him until he puts it back down. “That one’s a girl.”
As he reaches for the white kitten, the tabby takes another swipe at his hand, this time with her claws extended. When Richard yanks his hand back its with a yelp and three identical scratches running across the back of his hand. Cara tries hard not to laugh.
“Do you see what I’m saying? Cats are mean,” Richard says.
Kahlan laughs. “She’s just being protective,” Kahlan practically coos as she strokes the orange kitten’s back.
Richard reaches for the white kitten again and the tabby hisses, but Kahlan holds the kitten back before she can scratch him again. The white kitten is docile in Richard’s hands, but its blue eyes are locked on the orange kitten as she attempts to lash out.
“This one’s a girl, too,” Richard says, placing the kitten back in Kahlan’s lap.
Kahlan smiles. “I’m calling her Belle.”
“Well, Beast sure fits the other one,” Richard grumbles.
Kahlan ignores him, turning to Cara. “I want you to name the other one,” she says, smiling that one particular smile she reserves solely for Cara.
Cara shakes her head. “You name it. They’re your cats.”
“I want you to name her,” Kahlan says.
Cara heaves a sigh. “Fine. Her name is Cat,” she says, glaring when she catches Richard roll his eyes.
“Cara, you can’t name her Cat,” Kahlan says, smiling.
“Why not?” Cara asks stubbornly.
“Because that’s what she is,” Kahlan says.
“And?” Cara asks.
Kahlan chuckles. “A name describes who you are, not what you are. I don’t call you ‘woman’. I call you Cara, because that’s who you are.”
“Then, I will name her Dog,” Cara says, lifting her chin as the kitten in question glares its kitten glare at her. “She is most certainly not that.”
Kahlan laughs, rolling her eyes slightly. “Fine. You can name her Cat.” Cara smiles at her triumph.
Richard rolls his eyes again. “I still think Beast is more fitting,” he says moving to sit on the couch. He jumps back up a moment later as Cat takes another swipe at him, her claws catching his forearm. Cara smirks, patting Cat’s head.
Later that night, after Cara kicks off her boots and climbs into bed with Kahlan curled around her and Belle sleeping at the foot of the bed, Cara sees Cat saunter into the room. She half expects the orange ball of fur to jump up onto the bed and settle down next to Belle, but it doesn’t. Instead, Cat drops down in front of Cara’s boots, resting her head on the toe of one.
Cara glares. She’ll kill that damn cat if it does any more damage to those boots. “Cat!” she hisses quietly so as not to wake Kahlan. “Cat! Get away from there!”
Cat raises her head lazily, staring blankly at the blonde woman, before resting her head back on the boot with a yawn. Cara glares, but since she doesn’t want to wake Kahlan and Cat appears only to be using her boots as a pillow and not a scratching post, Cara gives up.
When she wakes, early the next morning, it’s to the sound of Rocky padding around her room. Her whole body tenses as she remembers that her boots are still on the floor. Before she gets the chance to leap out of bed and chase the mutt off, Cara hears a growl and a hiss, followed by a sharp yelp and the sound of Rocky racing out of the room. Cara glances over to her boots and sees Cat, her eyes narrowed angrily and the fur of her tail flared out, standing in front of her boots.
It takes a moment before Cat settles back down against her boots, but when she does, she is watching Cara.
Cara nods her thanks to Cat, a ghost of a smile touching her lips. “Good Cat.” Cat merely lowers her head back onto the toe of Cara’s boot and lets her eyes slip shut.
Cara thinks that maybe Cat won’t be so bad after all.
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Pairing: Majorly Cara/Kahlan, but if you squint it can be read as Cara/Kahlan/Richard.
Rating: PG
Warning: A bad word or two, but otherwise harmless.
Summary: Cara brings Kahlan home an unexpected gift.
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of the Seeker or any of its characters.
A/N: Modern AU. Not a huge fan of this as it stands, but feeling like it's not going to get any better so I'm posting it. Hopefully someone will enjoy it.
For the thousandth time that day, Cara looks down at the tiny teeth marks imprinted in her left boot, the tiny impressions marring the red leather. She huffs a sigh.
Three days ago, Richard had brought home a puppy, a brown and black mutt that decided this morning that Cara’s favorite boots would make a good chew toy. Cara had found the beast sprawled out at the foot of her bed, teething on red leather. Richard had scooped the puppy up, apologizing profusely, before Cara could retaliate against the creature. Cara yanked on her boots and stormed out of the house, but not before she heard Richard mumble that maybe if she put her boots away, Rocky wouldn’t be teething on them.
Rocky. That’s what Richard named the damned thing. The name was fitting, Cara thought, considering the beast was as dumb as a bag of rocks. Cara had never liked dogs. In all honesty, Cara didn’t particularly care for any animal, but she hated dogs. Every dog she had ever met was lazier than a sloth on sleeping pills, dumber than dirt, and more annoying than a two year old child. They were always so dependent and eager to please. Cara hated them.
She had walked until the anger boiling in her chest turned into a low simmer. She stopped at a coffee shop, mainly so she could use it as a reason for storming out of the house, and bought herself a large, regular coffee and a caramel latte for Kahlan. Richard could buy his own damn coffee.
She was on her way back to the house with the two coffees when a man, about the same width as the sidewalk, slammed into her. She managed to keep Kahlan’s latte in hand, but her own coffee went toppling to the ground, spilling across the cracked pavement.
“You fucking asshole! Watch where you’re going!” she shouts.
The giant man doesn’t even turn around and Cara is about to go after him when a small, white blur races past her feet. She looks down to see a white kitten lapping her coffee up from the sidewalk.
Cara glances around before she kneels down. If there had been anyone around, she wouldn’t have done it. She refuses to let anyone see her kneeling down to pet a kitten. She tilts her head to the side, watching as the kitten licks up her spilled coffee. The kitten’s fur is pristinely white, but the tip of her nose, tail and paws have rusty, red markings.
Cara is just about the reach out and brush the kitten’s fur when, out of nowhere, a blur of orange fur rushes up and bats her hand away. The orange kitten hisses at Cara, arching its back, placing its small body between her and the white kitten. The orange kitten’s fur is mottled with dirt and mud and there is a scratch just above its right eye. It’s cerulean eyes are narrowed into a glare.
The white kitten glances up with bright blue eyes from where it is lapping up Cara’s coffee. It meows softly and nuzzles the space beneath the orange kitten’s chin. The orange kitten deflates a bit, its back lowering and its fur settling back to its original position. Only the fur of its tail remains flared out. The white kitten stands on her back legs, sets her front paws on Cara’s thigh, and leans forward to nudge her stomach with her head.
Cara spares a glance at the orange kitten, still standing in the puddle of coffee, before running her fingers through the white kitten’s fur. The kitten begins purring, nudging Cara’s hand with its head.
Cara doesn’t know what she’s thinking when she lifts the little white kitten into her arms, but she supposes it has something to do with remembering that Kahlan once told her how much she loved cats. The orange kitten does not appear to be too happy to see Cara holding its companion and Cara can hear a low, rumbling growl coming from deep in its throat.
She watches the little orange tabby for a moment before reaching over to pick it up as well. Instead of climbing into her arms, as the white kitten had, the tabby’s paw bats Cara’s hand away.
Cara rolls her eyes before narrowing them at the tiny ball of orange fur. “Fine,” she grumbles before she realizes that she is actually speaking to a small cat. She promptly closes her mouth and stands.
With a parting glance at the orange kitten, Cara turns and walks away, heading home. The white kitten purrs contentedly and nudges Cara’s jaw with its head. When it meows at something over her shoulder, Cara turns to find the orange tabby following her. If a cat could sneer, that’s what the tabby does to Cara. Cara retaliates with a sneer of her own.
When she reaches the house, Cara rethinks her decision. What if Kahlan doesn’t want a cat? What if Richard’s mutt decides that they will make for a good snack? They are not prepared for two cats. They don’t have food to give them. What the hell kind of food would you even buy them? Do they need special food because they’re kittens, or are they supposed to have milk. They’d need a litter box. What if they don’t know how to use it? She certainly doesn’t know how to train a cat. She’s never owned an animal in her life. Cara glances down at the kitten in her arms, almost fully prepared to put it back down on the sidewalk and leave it there, but when the kitten nuzzles it’s nose into the crook of Cara’s arm, Cara decides she will let Kahlan make the decision.
She opens the door and steps inside, sparing a glance back at the orange kitten. The kitten peeks around the doorframe and into the house.
“Well, are you coming or not?” Cara asks, growing impatient.
The kitten glares at her once more before sauntering inside, stopping by her feet. Before the tabby can react, Cara scoops it up by the scruff of its neck. It twists in her grip, growling, as Cara walks further into the house.
“Cara, who are you talking to?” Kahlan’s voice comes from the living room and Cara, again, become concerned with how Kahlan will react to two kittens. She doesn’t answer Kahlan’s question and pauses just outside the living room. Perhaps this was a bad idea.
She shakes her head and wills herself to take the final few steps into the living room. Kahlan is sitting on the couch, her back to the hallway, watching TV.
Cara strides over to the couch and drops both kittens unceremoniously into Kahlan’s lap. “Here.”
The orange kitten growls and immediately leaps off Kahlan’s lap and onto the back of the couch, glaring its kitten glare at Cara. The white kitten simply shifts in Kahlan’s lap until it is curled into a ball.
Kahlan looks back at Cara, her blue eyes wide. “Cara, they’re adorable! Where did you get them?”
Cara shrugs, leaning against the wall behind the couch. “Found them.”
Kahlan smiles that singular smile she gets when she thinks Cara is being particularly adorable. Cara both loves it and hates it at the same time. She is Cara Mason. No one should be thinking she is adorable.
She is pulled from her thoughts when Kahlan reaches up to pet the orange kitten.
“I wouldn’t…” Cara begins, but she falls silent when the tabby merely flinches before letting Kahlan brush her fingers over its fur. It doesn’t look particularly happy until Kahlan scratches just beneath its chin and the kitten begins purring, eyes narrowing to mere slits. Cara arches an eyebrow.
“Come here,” Kahlan tells Cara, sitting up to make room for Cara on the couch.
“I don’t…” Cara begins before Kahlan interrupts her.
“Cara, come here,” Kahlan says again, glancing with amusement at the blonde over her shoulder.
Cara rolls her eyes, but saunters over and settles into the couch beside Kahlan, leaning against the armrest. The orange kitten eyes her suspiciously even as it leans into Kahlan’s touch. Kahlan leans back into Cara’s side, wrapping the blonde’s arm around her shoulders and lacing their fingers together, while she runs the fingers of her other hand through the white kitten’s fur.
“Do you like them?” Cara asks and only Kahlan would be able to detect the slightly self-conscious tone in her voice.
Kahlan looks over her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the blonde’s jaw. “I love them, and I love you.”
Cara tenses, ducking her head and burying her face into the crook of Kahlan’s neck. It should not be this hard to say, not after three years, but Cara’s throat still closes around the word. She presses a kiss to Kahlan’s shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut as she wills the words to come.
“It’s okay,” Kahlan says after a minute. “I don’t need to hear it.”
It should make Cara feel better, but it doesn’t. “You deserve to hear it.”
Kahlan squeezes her hand. “I don’t need to hear the words to know the truth of how you feel.”
Cara rests her forehead on Kahlan’s shoulder and holds her tighter. She doesn’t argue because she knows it is pointless. Kahlan will not allow her to feel bad that she cannot say those three small words. Instead, she heaves a sigh and changes the subject.
“They’re going to need names,” she mumbles into Kahlan’s shoulder.
Kahlan squeezes her hand again. “We’re not even sure if they’re boys or girls yet,” she says with a smile.
Cara shrugs. “What do you want them to be?”
Kahlan chuckles. “Cara, I can’t just will them to be a certain gender.”
“I know that, Kahlan,” Cara says, rolling her eyes. “I meant, if you had your way, would they be boys or girls?”
Kahlan thinks about the question for a moment, her fingers brushing over the white kitten’s fur. “Girls,” she says a moment later. “I want to call this one Belle.”
Cara rolls her eyes, groaning. “I’m taking that movie away from you,” she says before angling her head in the direction of the orange kitten. “And we are not calling that one Beast, even if it does seem fitting.”
Kahlan laughs and they both hear the front door open and Rocky’s paws scrambling across the hardwood as he tugs on his leash. The orange kitten’s eyes widen at the sound and its fur stands on end. The tabby leaps from the back of the couch into Kahlan’s lap and places itself between the white kitten and the sounds coming from the hallway.
Hearing Kahlan’s laugh, Richard comes into the living room with Rocky trotting closely behind. He stops in his tracks upon seeing the two kittens in Kahlan’s lap. “What’s this?”
“They’re cats, Richard,” Cara says as if she’s speaking to a particularly slow child.
Kahlan elbows the blonde’s ribs gently, as if to tell her to be nice, before she turns to Richard. “Cara found them.”
Richard nods. “Did you call the shelter?”
Kahlan looks horrified. “No! Richard, I want to keep them.”
“Cats are destructive,” Richard says, frowning.
“So is your dog,” Cara argues, glaring up at him.
“He’s teething, Cara,” Richard says in exasperation. “He’ll grow out of it. Cats are always destructive.” He gestures with his hand to the orange kitten. “Look. That one’s already gotten mud all over the couch.”
“It won’t be covered in dirt all the time, Richard,” Cara snipes. “It needs a bath.”
“Have you ever tried to give a cat a bath?” Richard asks with as much sarcasm as he can muster.
Cara glares, but Kahlan speaks up before she can say anything. “I want to keep them, Richard.” Richard frowns, but it is beyond his power to deny Kahlan anything so eventually he nods. Kahlan smiles. “Could you tell us if they’re boys or girls?”
“What makes you think I would know how to tell?” Richard asks, even as he reaches for the orange kitten.
“Because, farm-boy, you were practically raised by animals,” Cara says.
Richard glares. “My grandfather had a farm. There’s a difference between living on a farm and being raised by animals.” Cara just shrugs.
As Richard reaches for it, the orange kitten growls, taking a swipe at Richard’s hand. Richard manages to scoop the kitten up without damage, but the kitten doesn’t stop growling and hissing at him until he puts it back down. “That one’s a girl.”
As he reaches for the white kitten, the tabby takes another swipe at his hand, this time with her claws extended. When Richard yanks his hand back its with a yelp and three identical scratches running across the back of his hand. Cara tries hard not to laugh.
“Do you see what I’m saying? Cats are mean,” Richard says.
Kahlan laughs. “She’s just being protective,” Kahlan practically coos as she strokes the orange kitten’s back.
Richard reaches for the white kitten again and the tabby hisses, but Kahlan holds the kitten back before she can scratch him again. The white kitten is docile in Richard’s hands, but its blue eyes are locked on the orange kitten as she attempts to lash out.
“This one’s a girl, too,” Richard says, placing the kitten back in Kahlan’s lap.
Kahlan smiles. “I’m calling her Belle.”
“Well, Beast sure fits the other one,” Richard grumbles.
Kahlan ignores him, turning to Cara. “I want you to name the other one,” she says, smiling that one particular smile she reserves solely for Cara.
Cara shakes her head. “You name it. They’re your cats.”
“I want you to name her,” Kahlan says.
Cara heaves a sigh. “Fine. Her name is Cat,” she says, glaring when she catches Richard roll his eyes.
“Cara, you can’t name her Cat,” Kahlan says, smiling.
“Why not?” Cara asks stubbornly.
“Because that’s what she is,” Kahlan says.
“And?” Cara asks.
Kahlan chuckles. “A name describes who you are, not what you are. I don’t call you ‘woman’. I call you Cara, because that’s who you are.”
“Then, I will name her Dog,” Cara says, lifting her chin as the kitten in question glares its kitten glare at her. “She is most certainly not that.”
Kahlan laughs, rolling her eyes slightly. “Fine. You can name her Cat.” Cara smiles at her triumph.
Richard rolls his eyes again. “I still think Beast is more fitting,” he says moving to sit on the couch. He jumps back up a moment later as Cat takes another swipe at him, her claws catching his forearm. Cara smirks, patting Cat’s head.
Later that night, after Cara kicks off her boots and climbs into bed with Kahlan curled around her and Belle sleeping at the foot of the bed, Cara sees Cat saunter into the room. She half expects the orange ball of fur to jump up onto the bed and settle down next to Belle, but it doesn’t. Instead, Cat drops down in front of Cara’s boots, resting her head on the toe of one.
Cara glares. She’ll kill that damn cat if it does any more damage to those boots. “Cat!” she hisses quietly so as not to wake Kahlan. “Cat! Get away from there!”
Cat raises her head lazily, staring blankly at the blonde woman, before resting her head back on the boot with a yawn. Cara glares, but since she doesn’t want to wake Kahlan and Cat appears only to be using her boots as a pillow and not a scratching post, Cara gives up.
When she wakes, early the next morning, it’s to the sound of Rocky padding around her room. Her whole body tenses as she remembers that her boots are still on the floor. Before she gets the chance to leap out of bed and chase the mutt off, Cara hears a growl and a hiss, followed by a sharp yelp and the sound of Rocky racing out of the room. Cara glances over to her boots and sees Cat, her eyes narrowed angrily and the fur of her tail flared out, standing in front of her boots.
It takes a moment before Cat settles back down against her boots, but when she does, she is watching Cara.
Cara nods her thanks to Cat, a ghost of a smile touching her lips. “Good Cat.” Cat merely lowers her head back onto the toe of Cara’s boot and lets her eyes slip shut.
Cara thinks that maybe Cat won’t be so bad after all.