...
"I'm not opinionated, I'm just always right."
...
"There's a cat..." Wes drawls out, standing in the doorway of the apartment with Willow by his side.
"Yeah, i can see that, captain obvious." Willow says, her head tilted to the side as she stares at the furry creature that lays on their couch.
Wes rolls his eyes. "But why is there a cat in our livingroom?"
Willow shrugs, dropping her bag on the floor as she walks through the livingroom, heading towards the window at the end of the hallway where the fire escape is located. "Window's open." She points out. "Probably just climbed in."
"Ok, well we need to get it out before-"
"Kitty!" Skyla cheers running past her big brother and straight to the kitten.
"Before that happens..." he sighs out watching the little girl stare at the animal in awe, reaching up to pet it. "No, wait, Sky, we don't know if that's a nice cat or a mean one and it could have something bad... like... what if it has... i don't know, fleas?" He looks to his twin for help.
She rolls her eyes at her twin, mumbling to herself about how clueless Wes can be. "Don't touch it yet, Sky." She tells her little sister, picking the girl up and propping her on her hip while she looks over the cat. "It doesn't have a collar." She observes.
"And?" Wes says, not seeing the point in her words.
"Looks clean too."
"So what?"
"So, it probably has an owner." She sighs. "Maybe we should ask around the building to see if it belongs to anyone?"
"No!" Skyla exclaims, a frown on her face as she looks between her two older siblings with hopeful, puppy dog eyes. "Can we keep him? Please?!"
Wes sighs and shakes his head. "Sky-"
"Please?!" She repeats, her tone pleading and bordering on begging territory. Willow stays silent, deciding to let her brother take the lead with this situation. She was the one who usually had to take charge and tell the little girl no, and so she decided it was his turn to meet the 'demon' side of their sister -a side Willow as seen too often for her liking.
"Skyla, he might have an owner-"
"No!" Skyla pushes her botton lip out into a pout.
"No what?" Wes raises an eyebrow.
"No!" She repeats. "T- They no care, they loose him. Mine now." She concludes, eyebrows furrowed slightly as she glares at her big brother in attempt to look scary and serious when in reality she looked like an adorable baby bunny, making the situation all that more amusing to Willow who bites her lip to hold in a laugh.
But Wes doesn't find the situation amusing at all, not when he's the one on the receiving end of the glare. "Skyla, you are not getting a cat. It's not yours and will not ever be yours. It's owner is probably sad and misses it and is worried. Don't you want to to help them?" He attempts to guilt trip her, something that had worked on Willow, Cameron and himself when they were kids and found a lost puppy.
"No... i want kitty." She states, not backing down.
Wes narrow his eyes at her. How did that not work? He thinks, slightly impressed. "Too bad, kiddo, you're not getting it." He tells her firmly, not giving in.
"Kitty mine!" She states, her voice gaining volume taking both her older siblings by surprise.
Should i help him out now? I feel like i should... Willow wonders, looking between the girl in her arms and her twin. Not yet. She decides once seeing her brother's jaw clench indicating he was losing his patience, which went for the little girl as well considering her face began to redden, her frustration shining through.
"Skyla Marney DeLaCruz, i swear-" he cuts himself off trying a calmer approach. "Ok, you know what? You are not the boss in this house, you are the child. If you would like a pet you can ask your dad about it for his house, not this one. Now, Cam is going to be home in an hour, time out until then and maybe if you ask nicely he will take you to the park-"
"No! I don't want park, i want kitty!" Skyla shouts, her eyes beginning to glimmer with forming tears of anger, immediately making Wes feel bad though he keeps his decision final.
"No." He tells her. "We're not keeping it."
❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁
"You got her a cat..?" Sasha raises an eyebrow at the sight of a little orange and white kitten cradled in the youngest DeLaCruz's arms.
Wes throws his arms up in frustration, having heard about the situation the entire day from Willow who teased him relentlessly. "I did not give her a cat!"
"He totally gave her a cat." Willow interjects, a taunting grin on her face as she sits on the couch beside her little sister, petting the Kitten.
"No i didn't!" He argues.
"But you did." Cameron interjects, an amused grin on his face as he enters the livingroom, sitting on the other side of Skyla, petting the cat as he does so.
Wes groans, flopping down onto the chair with an annoyed look on his face. "Fine, whatever, i gave her a temporary cat."
"Temporary?" Sasha repeats, walking over to the loveseat as she spreads out comfortably, pulling a fuzzy blanket over her form. "Why only temporary?"
"'Cause it probably has an owner." He answers.
"You didn't already check?" She asks confused. "Why wouldn't you ask around first? Sky's gonna get attached to it."
Wes rolls his eyes. "You don't think i know that? She's a scary little psycho, i didn't get the chance to ask around before she started to scream her head off." He defends.
Sasha snorts, shaking her head. "Whatever. Where's Soph?"
"Had some family dinner thing. Said she's gonna come by later." He answers.
Sasha nods, looking over to the cat once more. "Should we go ask around the building? Or like, put up missing cat flyers?"
Willow nods. "Probably."
"But is my kitty! I name KitKat! Mine!" Skyla argues, cradling the kitten closer to her chest, looking to Cameron for help as he seemed to be the only one who seemed to not care if they were to keep the cat, but the boy just shrugs in return.
"Sorry, Sky. It's not up to me." He tells her. "And you know, if he has an owner they're probably really miss him and they're scared. Don't you want to help them find him?"
"No!" She shouts, slowly sliding off of the couch and running away, disappearing down the hallway with the cat in her arms, followed by the slam of her bedroom door.
"Yeah, we already tried the guilt trip thing." Wes says when Cam turns to him and Willow with a raised brow. "Turns out Sky's want for a kitten outweighs her care for other people and their feelings."
Sasha laughs. "We can see that. How are you going to get her to give him up? She already named him."
"We'll figure something out. Vince gets back tomorrow, I can just ask him to talk to her." Willow shrugs. "Maybe she'll listen to him."
"I doubt it." He shakes his head, mumbling to himself about how much of a demon their sister can be.
"It's worth a shot."
❁ ════ ❃• - •❃ ════ ❁
"So, we have a permanent cat now..." Willow trails off.
"Dammit. " Wes groans. "Told you it wouldn't work."
"Shut up." She rolls her eyes. "You're the one who gave it to her."
"I didn't give her a cat!"
"Yes you did!" Willow exclaims, pointing at her twin. "You caved and she got attached and now even Vince can't get through to her."
He narrows his eyes at her before letting out a defeated sigh, his shoulders slumping as leans back in his seat. "Fine, fine, you're right. I'm sorry."
She sighs, walking over and taking a seat beside him. "It's ok. No one can get through to her when she goes into her tantrum, full meltdown mode. She's almost as stubborn as mom when she gets like that."
Wes nods in agreement. "But she's worse than mom, Sky's twice as stubborn. Kind of like you."
Willow turns to him, punching his arm. "I'm not that stubborn!"
"Hate to break it to you, but you are." He teases with a smile. She shakes her head, a small smile playing on her lips as they sit in silence for the next few minutes, only the quiet sound of Friends playing in the background and Skyla's happy voice singing to Kitkat in her bedroom. "Are we actually letting her keep it?" He asks, dreading the idea of having to take care of a cat.
"I guess so." She shrugs. "I don't really care. Vince said he'll buy stuff for him, all we have to do is clean a litter box and make sure Sky gives him food and water. How hard could it be?"
Willow jinxed herself, taking care of Kitkat was harder than she thought it would be.