Beaming Love

Cat

"Hey, you're home late."

I finally walk through the back door to see Brad standing in the kitchen waiting for me looking like he's been waiting.

"I was going to call and make sure you weren't trying to leave me but I wanted to wait a little first."

"We just had a really good audience this week, I think we made enough mistakes for the whole season from their laughter."

I grab myself a few snacks, stepping over some weirdly shaped dog toys.

"Babe why'd you get them these? They're big dogs not puppies. They don't want tiny squeaky toys their teeth are going to ruin."

"Those aren't for the dogs, they're for Mr. Wiskerson."

"Who the hell is Mr. Wiskerson?"

"The cat obviously. You scared him off when you got home. I think it might've been the fuzzy slippers."

"Whatever. I'm going to bed. And the fuzzy slippers are the only shoes that fit right now thanks to you.  My feet have grown two sizes."

I grab a water bottle as I make my way out of the kitchen towards our room, where Brad conveniently left the door open for the dogs to get on our bed leaving me very little room. They jump up to watch me as I walk by grabbing some pajamas all looking closely at my food.

I fight with my clothes as I eat, too lazy and tired to bother taking the time to do both separately waiting for Brad to come up so he can move the dogs so I can lay down.

"Hey they're outside," he walks in the bathroom as I brush my teeth "I let them up here so they wouldn't hurt Mr. Wiskerson."

"As long as they aren't barking all night."

"I gave them a bunch of toys. They're good."

I make my way over to the bed crawling under the sheets to get comfortable as I feel Brad doing the same. He gently wraps his arm around me to feel the baby move for a little before we both situate ourselves to fall asleep.

Brad's POV:

"Shhhh you'll wake her and she'll be even more pissed about you."

I hold the cat closer to me to keep him from climbing on Jen since he keeps meowing and going right over to her face.

"You want some treats?"

He jumps up in my lap putting his paws on my chest as I reach over for the bag pulling some out.

"What the hell are you doing right now?"

I look over to see Jen half asleep sitting up.

"I'm giving Mr. Wiskerson his early morning snack." I pet him as he purrs obviously enjoying the attention "He was so good last night he deserves it."

"And you have to do it in our bed? Not anywhere else like a normal person?"

"Well I mean I could..."

"When is whoever owns him picking him up? Do I have to expect this tomorrow too?"

"I kinda would, y'know, since he's kinda ours..."

"What did you just say? Brad!" She sits up even further looking pissed as she realizes what I've done "You adopted a freaking cat? What the hell were you thinking?!?"

"That he was really adorable and you would probably love him as much as I do."

"Brad, I love you. I really do. But you are such an idiot sometimes."

"Look, I know you're upset but his little paws! They're so perfect! And he's so tiny! Mr. Wiskerson is the perfect practice for me so I'm ready for the baby."

"We're going to have a baby here in about 4 months and you've only now decided to get some practice in? You told me you were ready when I got pregnant!"

"I wanted to have sex and that seemed like the right answer at the time."

"Oh my God, Brad." She puts her head in her hands probably rolling her eyes as she thinks about all this "You really went and got a freaking cat. I don't even know what to think right now."

"That you love me? And you'd never put an animal in harm's way because he was at the shelter for over a month. That could be very dangerous."

"Oh you're definitely not taking it back. I'd never do that, but you are going to be the one taking care of him. And what the hell kind of name is that anyway? You couldn't think of anything else?"

"I got it from Friends. I thought you'd appreciate that."

"Honey that just makes me know you're trying to suck up even more than I expected."

She pulls herself out of bed to check on the dogs and make breakfast while I'm stuck trying to clean up the mess Mr. Wiskerson made without pissing him off.

I push the crumbs off the sheets to get rid of them but he must not like it because he jumps around hissing at me repeatedly. He even grabs my arm at one point almost scratching me while he continues to hiss louder and louder.

"JEN!"

"What?"

"THE CAT! He's trying to kill me!"

"Sounds like it's your problem."

I jump off the bed quickly but he gets off even faster literally chasing me down the steps while hissing at me the whole time until we reach the kitchen. Where he calming walks right up to Jen standing between her legs and purring.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me. I adopt him and he treats me like this? You don't even like him!"

"Well he is starting to look pretty cute right now cuddled up to me. I might need to change my mind about him."

"No. We can't keep a pet that betrayed me. That's not okay."

"Babe he hissed at you once. What are you gonna do when the baby starts yelling at you? Put it up for adoption?"

"I've had the thought.  Her and I have had some talks about it before too.  She knows she isn't allowed to talk back."

"Hey I've spent way too much time making this baby. If anyone gets to decide that, it's me. After you push one out of yourself you can make that decision."

She carries her food over to the table with Mr. Wiskerson following calmly except for the few times he looks back at me hissing. I sit across from her with my coffee having a staring contest so he knows who is really in charge here.

"Brad get over it. Your dumb cat likes me more than you. I win."

"This competition isn't over until I win."

"You're being so dumb right now."