Topic: New Additions

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2015-11-15 21:51 EST
So many choices. Too many choices. Steve and Lucy had brought their little family to the local animal shelter so each of them could choose a pet. Well, not James. He was a little too young for a pet, but Steve and Lucy had decided that pets would be good for the older pair. Pets would not only help teach them responsibility, but give them some companionship, too. It had all started because of the Storms, really. The children had gotten a taste of what it was like to have a dog from the Storms, and had been asking for a pet of their own ever since.

Steve sighed as they slowly walked through the kennels, sad to see so many animals who needed good homes. "I don't even know where to begin. Do you?" he asked Lucy quietly, so that Martin and Lianne wouldn't overhear.

"Well, we've done the paperwork," Lucy murmured back to him. "Maybe we should split up - you do cats with Lianne, and I'll do dogs with Martin, and then they can show each other the ones they like best?" She didn't have the first idea how to do this, but Liv made it look so easy.

To be fair, Liv and Johnny only had a dog, while Steve and Lucy were looking for both a dog and cat, but it wasn't a competition. "Okay, you want me to take Jamie?" he asked, leaving the decision up to her, while the pair of children oohed and aahed at the vast selection of pets needing good homes.

"Might be a good idea," she nodded. "The cattery is mostly enclosed, so he won't be able to freak out any cats there when he squeals at them." She grinned at her husband; they both knew Jamie was in the middle of a phase of loving the sound of his own voice at the moment. She looked down at Martin. "All right, ma petit, shall we go and look at the puppies?"

Steve chuckled at Lucy's logic. Neither of them knew the first thing about choosing a pet, though they had done their research regarding caring for one ....or two. "Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you back here in a while." He touched a kiss to her lips and offered a hand to Lianne, the other pushing Jamie's stroller. "Ready to check out the cats, Li-Li?"

Meanwhile, Martin beamed a smile up at his mother. He was clearly in his glory. "Oui, Mama. I am ready!"

"Oui, aussi, Papa," Lianne echoed her brother as she took Steve's hand, wriggling her free fingers in Martin and Lucy's direction.

Lucy chuckled, sweeping her elder son's bangs out of his eyes. "Well, come on, then," she encouraged him. "We have a lot of dogs to see." Personally, she was hoping for a puppy, or there was going to have to be some strict discipline laid down between the dog and the cat.

Martin wiggled his fingers back at his sister, before being tugged along by his mother in search of a dog, like his father had promised. "What kind of dog should we get, Mama?" he asked, trusting eyes looking up at her from beside her.

"Well, that all depends on which dog suits you, doesn't it?" Lucy smiled down at her son, not embarrassing him by holding his hand this time. They were still working out what was allowed at age nine, and what wasn't. "But if the dog you choose is an old one, you will have to goodbye to them sooner than you may be ready for."

He seemed to consider that a moment, before looking back up at her again. "But old dogs need homes, too, n'est ce-pas" Like Aunt Peggy. She was old, but we loved her until it was time to say good-bye, oui?"

Lucy had to blink to clear her vision as he brought Peggy up, mentally cursing for trying to warn him ahead of time. She swallowed, pausing to crouch down and look him in the eye. "I'm not saying you shouldn't, if you take to one of the older dogs," she promised him. "I just don't want you to go into this and be shocked if, in just a couple of years, your friend has to leave us. But this is about you, ma petit. Your friend, your choice."

He looked back at her soberly and nodded his blond head. "Oui, Mama, I understand," he replied obediently. Somehow he knew she was trying to save him some pain and suffering, but that wasn't what was important here. What was important to him was giving a good home to a lonely animal in need. "Why are there so many dogs here, Mama?" he asked curiously. There were certainly enough homes in the city for all of these poor creatures, weren't there"

"I don't know all the reasons, sweetheart," she told him. "But some are here because their owners couldn't cope with them, or couldn't afford to keep them anymore. Some are here because they were picked up as strays on the road. Unfortunately some are here because they were taken away from owners who were hurting them - like Bella was. There are lots of reasons why the shelters are so full, but one of the main ones is the silly people who don't spay or neuter their pets, so they end up with a litter of puppies or kittens that they can't deal with."

"Why would anyone hurt them?" he asked. Though already nine years old, he was still a child and still young enough not to understand the cruelties of the world, though he'd experienced some of them. Unlike little Maria, he'd been lucky enough to have escaped their ordeal without any physical injuries, though nightmares still sometimes woke him in the middle of the night.

"Because some people can be very cruel, especially to anyone who needs them, like dogs and cats, and even children," Lucy explained gently, rising to her feet to wrap her arm about his shoulders. "But that's why shelters like this one exist, so that dogs and cats and animals who have been treated badly can have a chance of going to a home where they'll be loved."

Martin frowned sadly as his mother moved to her feet to lead him through the rows of cages in the kennel. "I wish we could save them all," he said quietly, though he knew that was impossible. "When I grow up, I will help them all find good homes," he declared, coming to an abrupt decision about his own future. "Could I do that, Mama?" he asked, looking up at her again. "Could I do something to help them when I get older?"

"I wish we could, too," she agreed with him, understanding that wrenching feeling of knowing they could only take one. "Martin, you can do anything if you set your mind to it. You are a bright, compassionate little man, and I have every faith that whatever you choose to do with your life, you will succeed in."

"I will do that then," he said, determinedly, deciding right there on the spot that his future career would somehow involve animals, though he wasn't sure what direction he'd take that in yet. Of course, he had plenty of years to both plan and change his mind, but at that moment in time, he was determined to make it happen.

Smiling, Lucy squeezed his shoulder, proud of him for feeling so strongly about something that he could make a decision like that in the moment. Of course, he might well change his mind, but she knew they'd support him, no matter what. "All right, then, handsome. Let's see who catches your eye." The kennels were full so close to Christmas, and it made her ache to know that so many of these dogs would be returned to the shelter in January or February when their new owners realized the commitment they had made. But that wasn't going to happen with them. "Every cage has a sign up with the dog's name and a little bit about them, too, see?"

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2015-11-15 21:52 EST
"Oui, I see," he replied, with a nod of his head. He was old for his years, and smart as a whip, but still a child nonetheless. He'd cried his heart out when Peggy had died, but had been strong enough to set his own grief aside to comfort his sister. He quieted as he stepped forward to move slowly past all the rows of cages, one at a time, as if he was considering each one carefully. He said not another word, all of his focus going into the decision.

Lucy followed a couple of steps behind, careful not to break her little man's concentration. She was glad Steve had taken Jamie to the cattery; though Lianne was excited about getting a kitten of her own, the prospect of a pet seemed to mean more to Martin somehow. She didn't want the experience marred in any way, if she could possibly help it. Besides, it was fascinating to watch as Martin moved slowly along the cages. She didn't know what he was looking for, but she had a feeling it would make itself obvious sooner or later.

The boy moved slowly and with purpose past each cage, past each abandoned and needy canine, in search of the one that touched his heart most. It hurt that he could only save one, and he paused at each cage, fingers touching the metal bars as he seemed to carefully contemplate each one. He paused at one cage and then another. "This one is hungry," he said as he moved slowly past. "This one is sick," he declared of another. "This one is having puppies," he said of a third. How he knew this was a mystery, but he seemed to know. It wasn't until he reached a cage inside which rested some type of Husky, eyes sad and lonely, but still bright with life. Martin paused there, his fingers curling inside the bars to peer at the dog who seemed to be contemplating him back with equal interest.

Was he aware of what he was doing, Lucy wondered, listening as her little boy somehow managed to determine the rights and wrongs of the dogs he passed. As far as she could tell, he hadn't even looked at the signs on each door, and yet he'd known the young female was pregnant without any visible sign. She checked the sign for the one Martin declared to be sick, and felt her stomach clench as she read that the poor thing had been diagnosed with bowel cancer. But how had Martin known that' She bit her lip as he came to a halt, watching as the Husky he was now looking at pulled himself out of his bed to come and stand by the steel mesh door, his head tilted to one side in contemplation of the boy before him. A faint suspicion entered her head, and she had to fight to keep herself from smiling. The Arctic scientists couldn't possibly have predicted their experiments would have this effect, surely.

Martin stood silently in front of the cage, speaking not a word, as he and the husky contemplated each other. His fingers clutched the bars tightly, all his concentration on the dog in front of him whose bright eyes met those of the boy without wavering. "He says his name is Thor, but I can change it if I like."

For a brief moment, Lucy had the beautiful mental image of her husband calling for Thor across the park, and had to suppress a grin. She moved to crouch down beside Martin, unwilling to interrupt whatever was going on between dog and boy. "Does he want you to change his name" It might take a long time for him to learn a new one, after all."

Martin shook his head, his eyes transfixed on the canine face looking hopefully back at him. "Non, he likes his name. He is old, Mama, but he has life left in him." The dog came closer and licked at the boy's fingers, which brought a smile to Martin's face. "Voulez-vous venir chez moi?" he asked the dog aloud.

Lucy glanced up at the sign on the door, taking in the notes. Thor, 12 years old, former owner died, likes cats. She smiled to herself as Thor licked Martin's fingers. "He does still have some life in him, doesn't he?" she chuckled, laying her hand on the mesh beside Martin's to introduce herself to the Husky. "Should we ask if we can meet him properly?" "Oui, Mama, can we?" the boy asked, turning hopeful eyes to his mother. He already knew her answer before he said it, not because of any special abilities but because he knew her. This was the reason for their visit here today and he had no doubt in his mind that this was the friend he was meant to save.

"Of course we can," she assured him with a smile, extending a finger to gently touch Thor's wet nose. "You two hold on here, and I'll find someone. I'm sure Papa and Lianne will be able to find us if they finish before we do."

"Oui, merci," he told her, a brilliant smile on his face. "I mean, thank you," he added, as if just remembering his English, surging forward to throw his arms around her neck before she could depart to find whoever was in charge. "Je t'aime, Mama," he whispered as he hugged her tight. Of the four children they'd rescued from the Arctic, Martin had been the quietest of the bunch and seemed to have been having the hardest time adjusting to his freedom, but there was no denying how he adored his new family and tried very hard to please them. He was old enough to remember his birth parents, though neither he nor his younger sister ever spoke of them. They were gone forever, part of the past. Nothing could be done to bring them back. It was Lucy who was his Mama now, and Lucy who held his heart in her hand.

Wrapping him up in her arms, Lucy let herself get misty-eyed for a long moment. Martin had always been quiet, more inclined to struggle on than share what his troubles were, and yet when he did break down, she'd been there to catch him each time so far. It was rare for him to reach out and initiate an embrace; rarer still for him to volunteer an I love you without prompting. She kissed his hair, hoping the Husky understood what a very special little boy his new master was going to be. "Je t'aime, ma petit," she murmured back to her son lovingly. Drawing back, she sniffled, reaching up to wipe her eyes with a soft laugh. "I'll go and find someone before I turn into the embarrassing Momzilla."

He touched her cheek to gently brush a tear from her face, his own eyes misty with tears. "What is Momzilla?" he asked, giggling. "That is a very funny word." He had trouble saying the word with his little French accent, but she would be able to understand him well enough.

She chuckled, kissing the tip of his nose. "It's a play on words," she explained to him. "It comes from Godzilla, the movie about the giant monster who attacks Japan' If I start blubbing all over you, I'll embarrass myself and start trying to pretend it never happened, and we all know how terrible I am at doing that." She grinned, pushing herself up onto her feet. "You get to know Thor a bit better. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

He wasn't sure what to make of her explanation, since in his opinion, she didn't compare in any way to a giant monster, but only giggled again at the image he now had in his head of a giant lizard bearing his mother's face. "Do you think Thor will mind that my dog is named after him?" he asked a little worriedly.

She paused, once again fighting not to guffaw at that image. She hadn't considered Thor meeting Thor, but it was possible. "I think it doesn't matter whether he minds or not," she told her son. "Our Thor needs his name more than the hammer man. If he's very smart, he'll be honored. And if he isn't, I won't let him eat pudding."

The boy giggled again at the thought of his mother denying the big blond man pudding. "Tres bien, Mama. I will wait here with our Thor." He didn't bother to ask if his Papa would mind, since this was the reason for their trip to the shelter, after all, and he had been given the choice as to which dog he chose. With any luck, Lianne would choose a feline friend who didn't mind the canine.

Lianne, at that almost precise moment in time, was standing in the cattery with her face and hands pressed against one of the windows, oohing at the sight of a litter of kittens playing with each other. She'd been flirted with, ignored, meowed at, and generally greeted by every cat they'd passed, but it was only as they reached the kittens that she'd shown even the slightest interest in stopping. "They so petit, Papa."

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2015-11-15 21:53 EST
Steve had said very little all the while he and his daughter had passed through the cattery, not wanting to influence her in any way, trusting her to know which one she wanted when she saw it. He smiled as he crouched down beside her, Jamie on the other side of him, watching the kittens prance and pounce with almost as much interest.

"Titty, Dada!" Jamie declared a little too loudly, pointing excitedly at the array of kittens. The little boy seemed in his glory, undisturbed by the fact that he was stuck in a stroller while he sister was allowed to walk about freely.

"Kitty, Jamie," Steve corrected, pronouncing the word very slowly for his son's benefit, before looking back to Lianne. "They're just babies, ma petite," he told her, one around going about her little waist.

Jamie's loud declaration made his sister giggle, knowing it was a rude word the way he said it. As Steve wrapped an arm about her waist, Lianne turned her eyes back to the kittens, enchanted by the way they tumbled all over each other. Of the entire litter, only one seemed to have noticed that they were being watched, a pretty little gray and white who pranced unsteadily over to the window to bat at the little girl's hand against the other side of the glass. Lianne cooed happily at the tiny creature. "Are le bebes more harder to look after, Papa?"

Steve had never had a cat or a dog for that matter, and could not answer that question from experience, but knew enough about small creatures like children and babies to know that the smaller and younger they were, the harder they were to care for, in general. "They can be, yes. You will have to teach her what she is and is not allowed to do. You might have to train her how to use a catbox and a scratching post. And you will have to play with her and give her lots of attention so she doesn't get lonely. Do you think you can do that, Li?"

Lianne nodded violently, absolutely certain that she could handle a kitten. After all, if Martin got a nice dog, then why shouldn't they be able to handle a kitten as well" She beamed up at her father. "She is only small, Papa," she pointed out. "Maybe she not learn to hate dogs yet, too, oui""

"Maybe," Steve replied, thoughtfully, though he thought the dog might be more of a problem then the cat. "She will just have to get used to it, like Jamie got used to you and Martin." He knew it wasn't a fair comparison, and yet, the two animals would have no choice but to get used to each other and learn to get along if they were to live in the same house.

"I like her, Papa," Lianne confessed a little timidly. She was aware that Mama and Papa were a little bit worried about putting a dog and a cat into the house, and she didn't want to cause any trouble. But Mama was at home all the time now, not working every day, and that meant that they would never be left alone together.

"Would you like to meet her?" he asked, wincing as Jamie shouted three times in loud succession, waving his arms excitedly and wriggling to try and free himself from the stroller,

"Titty! Titty! Titty-tat!"

Steve offered an apologetic look to a few onlookers who were snickering quietly. "Sorry, he's just learning to talk and likes the sound of his own voice." He turned to the little boy with a look on his face that wasn't nearly stern enough. "All right, little man. Do you want to meet the kitties, too?"

Giggling at Jamie's excitement, Lianne's face lit up hopefully. "Oh, oui, Papa," she enthused. "Yes, please."

One of those onlookers was a member of the cattery staff, chuckling as he crouched down beside the glass with them. "She's taken a liking to you, hasn't she?" he commented, pulling the key chain from his belt. He looked at Steve. "You can all come through to the room behind here, sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to try and keep your little boy quiet. They're easily startled by loud noises, and I wouldn't like any of you to get scratched."

Steve nodded his understanding, turning to Jamie to unfasten the belt that held him securely in the stroller. "You have to be quiet so you don't scare them, Jamie. Shhh," he explained quietly, pressing a finger to his own lips, hoping the boy would understand. "Like when Mama is resting."

"I'll put your stroller out of the way in the staff corridor," the staff member offered, rising up onto his feet to take the stroller when Jamie was safely out of it. "If you'd like to come with me?"

Lianne tucked herself against Steve's leg as the man led the way, taking them around the back of the public area to unlock the door that would take them into the larger area where the kittens spent most of their time, away from public eyes.

"Just sit yourselves down, and I'll get them in here," he suggested. "They'll climb all over you, given the chance."

With the toddler in one arm and Lianne's hand in his other, Steve followed the shelter worker to the back area where they could have a private visit with the kittens and Lianne could pick out the one she wanted. "Thank you," he told the man, hoping once again that Jamie didn't get too excited and scare them away.

"It's a pleasure," the man said cheerfully. "This lot just turned 12 weeks. If you'd come in tomorrow, they would all have been spoken for. Kittens go very fast." He knelt down, opening a large cat flap at the top of a ramp down into the room, and clicked his tongue encouragingly.

Lianne, fascinated already with a room that was full of cat beds and scratching posts and litter trays, sat herself down quietly beside Steve and Jamie, laying a finger against her lips to remind her little brother that they had to be quiet. After a moment, the kittens started to struggle through the cat flap; six in all, each just a little different from the others, tumbling determinedly down the ramp to tentatively investigate the humans in their midst.

Steve took a seat on the floor beside Lianne with Jamie in his lap, towering over both his son and daughter, as the kittens made their tentative way down the ramp to investigate the newcomers. "Easy, Li," he told the little girl quietly. "See which one comes to you."

It was incredibly difficult to sit perfectly still and let the kittens inch their way toward them. So difficult, in fact, that Lianne was sitting on her hands by the time the little gray and white reached her, biting her lip to keep from giggling out loud when the little kitten almost immediately climbed up onto her leg. Encouraged by her bravery, the other kittens were soon clambering onto Steve and Jamie as well, leaving Lianne watching her kitten trying to pull her hand out from under her leg. "Elle est si jolie, Papa," she whispered, finally letting the kitten have her hand to play with, utterly charmed. The other cats might as well have been wallpaper as far as Lianne was concerned.

"Je pense qu'elle vous aime," he replied in her native French, a language he learned while stationed in Europe during the Second World War. Jamie was quietly entranced by the kittens, giggling as they pranced and pounced on and around him and his father. He wasn't too sure if the kitten was male or female, though Lianne to have already decided. "Is it a girl or boy?" he asked, tilting his head toward the shelter worker.

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2015-11-15 21:54 EST
The man looked up from where he was crouched in the corner, smiling at the way the kittens had decided Captain America was their very own climbing frame. "Mm' Oh, that's a girl," he told Steve with a grin. "Only female in the litter. She's a cheeky little charmer, that one."

Hesitantly, Lianne reached out with her other hand to stroke the little gray and white head with her fingers, her eyes going wide when the tiny creature started to purr and push into her touch. "Oh, Papa," she said, almost tearful with delight at the way the kitten had taken to her. "Can we take her home?"

Apparently, his daughter had either made a lucky guess or had some sense about these things. Steve couldn't tell the difference between the boys and the girls, but somehow Lianne seemed to have known - or maybe it had just been luck. "If you are sure, ma petite, and promise to help take care of her, then yes. But she will need a name. What would you like to name her?" he asked, plucking a kitten from his lap before Jamie sat on it and squashed it.

"I can give her a name?" Lianne looked up at the shelter worker in surprise at her father's query.

The man chuckled, nodding. "If she's the one you want, then of course you can," he told the little girl warmly, reaching out to help rescue Steve and Jamie from a couple of the more adventurous kittens climbing on them.

Lianne looked down at the little kitten on her lap, meeting the curious eyes with a quiet giggle. "Can I call her Cherie?" she asked Steve hopefully. "Because she is my friend."

"You can call her anything you like, but once she learns her name, you won't be able to change it," he warned. Though he thought Cherie was a sweet name for the kitten, it was ultimately Lianne's decision what she wanted to name her. "Why don't you try it and see how she likes it?" he asked, with a soft smile as he looked on. It was hard to miss the affection in his eyes for both children, adopted or not.

Looking back down at the kitten, Lianne blinked, startled to find the little creature clinging to her coat, virtually nose to nose with her. Automatically, her hands rose to cup underneath the little cat's rear end, holding her up as she blushed at the affectionate things investigation of her face. ?"tes-vous Cherie?" she asked the kitten in a soft voice, getting nothing back for her efforts but a face rub.

"Well, that's decided," Steve said with a chuckle, seeing how "Cherie" seemed to have taken to his daughter. He looked down to find one kitten toying with the laces on Jamie's shoes, and another kneading his tiny claws on Steve's jeans. "Um, would you mind?" he asked, looking to the shelter worker for help. It appeared Captain America had just been conquered by a half dozen cute, little, furry creatures.

The man chuckled softly, reaching over to collect the kittens easily. Lianne watched, admiring how confident he was to pick up two kittens in each hand and move them away, even as she hugged Cherie closer to her chest. He grinned over at her. "I won't take her away for long," he promised the little girl. "I'll just put her in a carrier and make sure she has one of her toys and a blanket with her scent on it to go with you." He looked to Steve reassuringly. "I'll give you some guidance on caring for a small cat, too."

Steve nodded his thanks, turning to Lianne with that soft reassuring smile on his face. "It's okay, sweetheart. He'll bring her right back. Promise," he echoed the man's statement, touching a kiss to her cheek. He wasn't sure what Lucy was going to think of a kitten, but hopefully, they had found a dog who wouldn't mind one so much.

Of course, word had spread through the staff that Captain America and his family were after a dog and a cat, so it was pretty safe to guess that none of the staff would allow either one to choose an animal that would try and kill the other. Relinquishing her new friend to the smiling man, Lianne let herself be led back out of the private room, bouncing impatiently on her toes as Jamie was incarcerated back into his stroller. "Do you think Martin will find a nice dog?"

"I hope so," he replied as he strapped Jamie back into his stroller. With all the excitement the kittens had presented, the little boy's eyes were growing heavy with sleep. Steve affectionately swept his fingers through his son's hair, crouching down nearly at eye level with both his children. "She gonna be your special friend now, Lianne. We'll help, but she's your responsibility." He imagined he'd be the one to dump the catbox and help with the more difficult tasks, but he wanted her to know that there was no changing her mind. A cat was not a toy one threw away when they grew tired of it.

The little girl looked up at her father with wide, disingenuous eyes. "Oui, Papa," she promised. "I will play with her, and feed her, and show her where she can do her business, and be her friend. I promise, Papa, I will."

"I know you will, sweetheart," he told her, smiling softly and reaching out to touch her cheek. "Can I have a hug?" he asked, almost shyly, wondering if he was going to have to compete with a kitten for cuddles now that she had picked out a special friend.

He didn't need to worry there at all. Lianne threw herself at him the moment he asked, snuggling into her father's embrace with a warm giggle. "Je t'aime, Papa," she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek as she clung on. No one would ever match up to Steve in her eyes, except perhaps Lucy. Lianne didn't remember her birth parents, and only barely recalled the detail of what had been done in the facility she had lived in for two years. Steve and Lucy were her parents as far as she was concerned, and she was constantly delighted to be their daughter.

That was all he wanted really - just for her to love him. Perhaps he had been alone for too long, lost without Peggy or Bucky, but all he really wanted was to be loved. He had that these days - with Lucy and Jamie and Martin and Liane and even the Storms - but he never took it for granted, knowing too well how easily that love could be lost. "I love you, too, Li-Li. Very much," he told her quietly, a father to a very special daughter.

One small hand touched his cheek as she smiled up at him. "No be sad, Papa," she told him in her cheerful way. She might have been the most fragile of the children he had rescued, but she was definitely the most stubborn of the bunch. "We have Cherie, and Jamie, and Mama, and Martin, and a doggie. Lots to love."

"How could I ever be sad when I have you to make me happy, ma cherie?" he asked her, wondering if he should call her by that term of endearment anymore now that she'd given the name to her kitten. It was true - she did make him happy, and though he loved all his children equally, whether they were adopted or not, there would always be a very special place in his heart for his daughter.

"Mr. Rogers?" The cattery worker was back, a carefully sturdy cardboard carrier held in one hand - from which a faint scrabbling could be heard - and a small folder in the other. "Yours, I believe," he chuckled, offering both to the little family. "And I think your wife and son are in the training yard - third gate on the left when you walk through the kennels."

Well, at least the man hadn't called him Captain Rogers. That was a relief anyway. Steve glanced to the man with a friendly, grateful smile once again as he moved to his feet. "Do you think you can carry her, Li?" he asked the little girl, his own hands a bit preoccupied with steering the stroller. He didn't think the box weighed much and they didn't have too far to go.

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2015-11-15 21:55 EST
Offered the opportunity to carry her kitten, Lianne's eyes went wide again. "Oui, Papa," she nodded, holding out her hands to the worker, who carefully showed her how to hold onto the handle so that the cheeky madam inside could burst out at any moment. "She's all movey!" she giggled, surprised by the way the box rocked backwards and forwards with the kitten's movement.

It was either that or carry Jamie and put the kitten in the stroller, but either way, Lianne was too small to steer. "Yes, she is," Steve replied chuckling. "Just be careful you don't drop her or she try to escape!" he warned. He turned back to the worker, pulling his wallet out of his pocket to pay for their purchases.

"I won't drop her!" As Steve dealt with the financial side of things, Lianne moved over to where Jamie was watching her sleepily, holding the rustling box near him so he could hear the kitten shuffling around inside. Brother and sister set to giggling as a little voice mewed at them, protesting being put in a small space for now.

Once the monetary transaction was finished, Steve tucked the folder into the stroller and looked to his daughter. "All ready to surprise Mama and Martin?" he asked, smiling brightly.

She nodded excitedly, turning to thank the cattery worker politely before they headed back toward the kennels. It didn't take long to locate the training yard, where Lucy was leaning against the fence next to the kennels manager, watching Martin and Thor as they bonded.

She looked over as the rest of her family trooped into the yard, chuckling at the sight of Lianne carrying a cardboard box like it contained the Holy Grail. "That visit was a success, hmm?"

Steve's gaze drifted to take in that of his son getting better acquainted with what appeared to be a Husky dog. "Looks like yours was, too," he said as he came up beside her and parked the stroller, where Jamie was quietly sleeping, tuckered out by the day's adventures, at least for the time being. "I hope we don't live to regret this," he whispered, for her ears only.

"Oh, I don't think we will," Lucy murmured back to him softly. "I've worked out what Martin's superpower is." She flashed her husband a fond smile, blinking in surprise when she found herself holding the kitten box so that Lianne could go over and say hello to her brother and his new friend. "I will never work out how she does that."

"Martin has a superpower?" Steve asked, turning sharply toward her at her statement. He laughed as Lucy found herself holding the kitten box without even having been asked. "Maybe that's Lianne's superpower. Wrapping you around her little finger," he teased, blue eyes bright with amusement.

Lucy chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Every time," she muttered. "I always end up carrying what she's holding, every time." She grinned up at Steve reassuringly. "Martin understands animals," she told him gently. "Really understands them. Almost as though he can speak to them, and they understand him. So no, I don't think we're going to regret this, love. I think we're in for an easier ride than we deserve, to be honest."

"What do you mean he understands animals?" he asked, furrowing his brows in confusion. There was no clearer way of explaining it, he supposed, but he wasn't quite sure what she meant by that. Talking to animals and actually understanding them were two very different things. "You mean like ....like Doctor Doolittle?" he asked, unsure what else to use as a point of reference. He'd read that book when he was a boy; it seemed like a very long time ago.

"Something like that, yes," she nodded, her eyes on the older children as they spoke. "He didn't read any of the signs, that I could see, but he knew that one was pregnant, and another was sick. This one told him what his name was. I think our Martin has an affinity with animals that goes quite a long way beyond simply liking them or understanding their behavior."

Steve thoughtfully watched their son, who was too busy getting acquainted with his new best friend to notice the attention. "Liv says Alex and Maria exhibit some sort of telepathic and empathic abilities. Do you think they were trying to make psionics out of them?" he mused aloud. Lucy had been working on finding some answers ever since they'd rescued the children from the Arctic, where they'd been kept as lab experiments. That only left little Lianne, who had yet to exhibit any unusual abilities, as far as he knew.

"They might have been," Lucy conceded softly, putting the little kitten carrier down beside her feet. "God, can you imagine that' An army made up of psionics. Conventional intelligence wouldn't stand a chance." She frowned, unhappy that children had been forced into such a thing. "At least they're safely out of it, and the data was destroyed. No one will be able to pick it up again for a very long time."

"But why children" Why not adults?" he wondered further, though he supposed it no longer mattered. His team, under the direction of S.H.I.E.L.D., had made sure to destroy the facility and all the data, so that no further experiments could take place. Lucy herself had seen to that. "There is always evil in the world, Luce. Sometimes it feels like we're always one step behind."

"Because a child's mind is still in the developmental stage." Lucy felt a little sick that she could explain that one so easily, taking a deep breath as she hooked her arm through Steve's. "It's over now. All we need to worry about is raising our children right, and making sure no one gets wind of what they can do."

"What about Lianne?" he asked, a worried frown on his face as she linked her arm with his. He didn't think much harm could come of animal telepathy, or whatever it was she thought Martin was displaying, but what about their little girl" "I think we should keep this to ourselves for now. Johnny and Liv, too." He didn't have to explain why. It went without saying that the safety of their children was far more important than their loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Steve only trusted Nick Fury so much.

She nodded. "I'm pretty sure Johnny and Liv are working on Alex and Maria keeping what they can do to themselves," she assured her husband softly. "Lianne, though ..." She sighed, her cheek resting against his shoulder as they talked. "I think she might have some kind of healing ability, love. Not something that I want to test, for obvious reasons."

"What makes you think that?" he asked, turning from his contemplation of the children to that of his wife. On Rhy'Din, these sorts of abilities could easily go unnoticed, but here in New York, that wasn't the case. "What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know for certain, but ....think about it, Steve," Lucy told him, careful to keep her lips from moving as she spoke. You never knew who was watching, unfortunately. "When we got to her, she had an advanced form of measles. In a child her age, it should have killed her, but the next day, she was up and about without any symptoms at all. She's had exactly one day of the flu this year - flu that put Martin down for a week and nearly got me as well. Her blood shows elevated white cells at all times. She seems to be able to shrug off just about anything."

"That doesn't make her a healer, Luce. It makes her immune to disease. Have you ever noticed anything else unusual about her?" he asked quietly, keeping his voice low enough that only she could hear him. It figured that she could be immune to disease because she had healing abilities, or there could be other reasons for that. He didn't really want to put it to the test either; they'd just have to be more observant.

Lucy Rogers

Date: 2015-11-15 21:56 EST
"I have a sneaking suspicion that she has some kind of active empathy," she murmured to her husband. "Some way of taking someone else's injury or illness into herself, where it's healed so quickly you might not believe she'd done it. Again, not something I want to test. I think we'll just have to keep an eye on her and see what happens."

He nodded his head to silently acknowledge her theory. It made perfect sense, and he trusted Lucy to know what she was talking about. She was a doctor, after all, and she'd spent the last eight months or so dissecting the data and forming her conclusions. "What are you gonna tell Fury?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet.

"Not a damn thing," she muttered back to him. "It's none of his business, and it's none of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s business, either. I'm just a consultant on call now; I don't have to report my every move to him. Our children are not an experiment or an on-going concern. They're ours."

He smiled, not really surprised by her answer. He knew Lucy and Nick Fury didn't always see eye to eye, and he saw no reason S.H.I.E.L.D. needed to know anything other than that the children were settled and living happy, normal lives. He knew the Storms felt as strongly about this as he and Lucy did - they would do everything in their power to keep their children safe, against both allies and enemies. "Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't be safer on Rhy'Din," he murmured with a sigh, not knowing that on the other side of the Nexus, the Storms were thinking the same thing about them.

"Judging by what Liv's been saying, it sounds like Rhy'Din is having its own problems right now," Lucy drawled. She'd lived in both places, and despite the apparent oddness, she found New York to be a far better fit for herself and her family. "Besides, you'd waste away if we moved out of Brooklyn."

"Waste away?" he echoed with a chuckle. "What do you mean by that?" He was pretty sure she wasn't talking about his physical health; he was as robust as ever, and he doubted moving to Rhy'Din would change that, but what would he do there" In a place that was teeming with mutated humans and other anomalies, villains and heroes alike.

"You love New York, Steve, it's in your blood," she reminded him affectionately. "You'd miss it too much if we moved away. And besides, you can take the captain out of America ..." She didn't finish, grinning her teasing grin as she rose onto her toes to kiss his cheek.

"Okay, I see your point," he laughed again, tilting his cheek into her kiss. "Captain Rhy'Din doesn't really have the same ring to it, does it?" he said with a smirk. She was right - Rhy'Din was a nice place to visit, but New York would always be home. And he was needed here, far more than he was in Rhy'Din.

She snorted with laughter. "And you'd have to hang up your star-spangled leotard," she added, eyes dancing with mischief. "So ....what?s in the box" I'm assuming it's a kitten, or somehow the three of you managed to find a really mutated feline of some kind."

"It's not a leotard!" he pointed out with an almost boyish blush. It was easy to forget that Steve was only in his twenties, though he'd been born in 1918. "Why don't you take a look?" he asked, blue eyes bright with amusement, relieved the conversation had lightened.

"Because I'm not stupid enough to get a kitten out of its box before we get home," she laughed. "The second that carrier opens, it'll run for cover. Cats do that, I'm told." She bit her lip, remembering a detail about the dog that she hadn't shared with Steve yet. "At least she got to name it, right?"

"Just take a peek," he told her. There couldn't be any harm in that, could there" "Yeah ..." Steve replied, pausing a moment a moment to consider something. "She seemed to know it was a girl, or else, maybe it was just a lucky guess. She named her Cherie, so I guess I'll have to watch my French from now on!" he added with another chuckle. Now that he was living with a couple of little ones whose native language was French, he found himself sometimes slipping into their language, rather than his own. "The kitten took right to her. It's like they were made for each other," he added with a shrug. Time would tell if the connection held.

Lucy smiled, shaking her head. "I'm not risking losing Lianne's kitten before we've got it safely incarcerated in the house," she laughed fondly. "Cherie's a sweet name. I won't mind yelling that if the little thing disappears. You might have a slight issue with the dog's name, though." She snickered, genuinely enjoying the fact that sooner or later he was going to have to call the dog in public.

"Why's that?" he asked, turning his head to watch their very lively children wearing the poor dog out with their antics. He had yet to hear Martin call the dog by name and had no idea what she was talking about.

"Because his name's Thor." Lucy only just got the name out before she burst into giggles, biting her lip hard to try and get a grip on herself. "I cannot wait to see you playing ball with him in the park!"

"Thor?" Steve echoed, a look of shock and surprise on his face. "No ..." He chuckled a little. "He can't be Thor ....Can he?" He looked from Lucy to the dog and back. "That's gonna be ....weird," he said, for lack of a better word. "What happens if, you know, the real Thor ....shows up" Hey, Thor, meet your namesake. Yes, he's a dog."

"Like I told Martin, he can take it like a man, or he doesn't get pudding," Lucy told her husband with a grin. It never ceased to amaze her that the powerful Avengers completely respected her right to rule in her own house, even to the point of doing exactly as they were told. She was never going to forget the sight of Dr. Banner painstakingly making lotus flowers out of napkins with Lianne, just because she'd needed something to keep the little girl out from underfoot.

All except Tony Stark, but even Tony had learned not to risk his sister's wrath in her own home. "I'm not sure he even knows what pudding is," Steve remarked with a laugh. He leaned close to brush a kiss against his wife's lips, lingering just moment longer than necessary. Quiet moments were few and far between in the Rogers household, and he had learned how to take advantage of them. "What do you say we go home, Dr. Rogers?" he asked, a soft smile on his face.

Cuddled into his arms for a long moment, because Lucy took advantage of these quiet moments just as much as Steve did, she sighed happily. "I think that's a stroke of genius, Captain Rogers," she murmured back to him. "Let's go and start working out how we're going to run a house of children and small animals."

"It won't be that bad, will it?" he murmured back, against her lips. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but she had captured his heart almost from the very first moment they'd met, and those feelings had only grown stronger with each passing day.

"No, I'm sure it won't," she chuckled softly, nuzzling to him. "We have an animal whisperer to help us out." She winked up at him, pulling the leash the kennel manager had given her out of her back pocket. She'd already made the arrangements for Thor, a blanket and a favorite toy of his tucked into a carrier bag next to the rustling kitten box. "Shall we?"

"I think so, before the natives get restless," he replied with a smirk - and he wasn't just talking about the animals. "Martin, Lianne!" he called, adding belatedly, "Thor!" with a chuckle. It was going to take a little time to get used to that name. "Time to go home!"

"We are all going home!" Lianne declared delightedly, skipping over to her parents only to eye the kitten box with mild resignation.

Lucy smirked. "You only have to carry it to the car, sweetheart. We didn't park that far away. Martin, are you and Thor all right to walk together to the car?" she asked, handing her son the leash.

Steve couldn't help but giggle a little boyishly again, clearing his throat to try and hide his amusement at the dog's name.

"Oui, Mama," Martin replied soberly, beaming a smile up at his parents. "Papa, this is Thor," he said, introducing his father to his new friend.

"Yes, I know," Steve said, trying hard to keep a straight face. He crouched down in front of the door and offered a hand, "I'm pleased to meet you, Thor," he said, and to his surprise, the dog offered a paw right back.

Lucy grinned, gently hooking the leash to the dog's collar while Martin took charge of it. "It's nothing personal, Thor," she explained to the dog, much to Lianne's amusement. "We know a person called Thor who doesn't know enough about animals to understand what an honor it is that you share a name. Steve's a little bit giggly about it." She patted her husband's head fondly, and turned to help Lianne get a good grip on the kitten carrier once again.

Steve grinned as his wife patted his head, wondering which of them was the pet and which was the man, before moving to his feet. "It's a pleasure to welcome you to our home," he told he dog, unsure if the dog understood a word he was saying.

"He understands, Mama," Martin added, as if he and the dog were in communication somehow. "He is happy to be going home with us."

Steve exchanged looks with Lucy, taking Martin's word for it. "Okay, then. Home it is." He took hold of the stroller, Jamie still napping peacefully, and started toward for home. Life was certainly getting interesting in the Rogers' household.

((This family's just getting bigger and bigger! Loads of thanks go to my partner in crime!))