~ Los Angeles, the Cliffside Villa ~
JoAnna is walking toward the garden and rubbing her shoulders. It's chilly in late October and she forgot to bring a jacket.
"How many tis I told you that I am not a veterinarian?" JoAnna asked Sarah impatiently as soon as her sight landed on Sarah.
"I know… I know…" Sarah said guiltily. "But Kitty is not well and I don't have anyone else to call."
JoAnna paused. "You said that she is bloated, and now she is not well? Which one is it?"
"Both. She is bloated and sleeping more than usually. Isn't that a sign that sothing is not well?"
JoAnna rolled her eyes. Sarah always overreacts when it cos to Kitty.
"Didn't you give her constipation dicine?"
"She is not constipated, this is different." Sarah said matter-of-factly, and then clarified: "I have Eve following Kitty's routine, and I know that Kitty did number two at least one ti every day for the last week how much I'm tracking her."
"So, this bloating is lasting for one week?"
Sarah pursed her lips while trying to rember. "I'm not sure. At first, I thought it's a one-ti thing, but then I saw that it's getting worse."
JoAnna gave up on scolding Sarah. She is already here. "Fine. Call her Kitty. I will check to see what is going on but don't get your hopes up. I am NOT a veterinarian!"
Sarah lifted her hands defensively. "I've got it, got it… You do what you can."
Sarah called Kitty and it took Kitty so ti to show up.
"See? Kitty usually cos after the second ti, and now it took five calls." Sarah said while gesturing toward Kitty. "And look how slowly she is walking. She usually dashes and starts sniffing my hands in the search of treats."
JoAnna wanted to say that maybe Kitty was sleeping, or she was further away, but she knows that Sarah will have a counter-explanation, and it will be sothing dramatic. The best thing she can do is to check on Kitty because Sarah will not give up otherwise.
JoAnna squatted and patted Kitty's head and slowly made her way toward the abdon.
After a few gentle squeezes, JoAnna made a face. "You are right, this is not usual."
"I told you!" Sarah said with glee that she is right. In the next mont, her face fell. "Is it serious?"
JoAnna shook her head. "I'm not sure. Many things can cause bloating. Why don't we find a…?"
"No." Sarah cut off JoAnna. She already knows where this is going. "There is no veterinarian I can trust here. Do you want them to take away Kitty from and put her into a ZOO?"
"So, what do you plan to do?"
"Please, check what you can. Imagine that she is human. If you can't figure out, we will take her to Texas and find soone there. In Texas, at least they are not illegal, and I don't need to worry about lawsuits and animal control."
JoAnna had to agree with this. "Fine. Get her to co to the dical room…"
…
In the dical room…
JoAnna pressed and squeezed Kitty's belly and she listened with the stethoscope… and then pulled an ultrasound machine closer.
"Hold her still. Let's try to see what she ate other than her usual diet…"
Sarah patted Kitty's head and sang her a song. She can't really hold the panther down, so she needs to get Kitty to cooperate.
Two minutes later...
"Oh…" A noise escaped JoAnna's lips while she stared at the monitor of the ultrasound machine.
Sarah held her breath. "What? Don't tell that she ate sothing dangerous and will need surgery?"
JoAnna bobbed her head. "I think that you are going to be a mother… Or a grandmother, since you treat Kitty as your daughter."
Sarah was sure that her ears malfunctioned. "What? Not possible."
"How is it not possible? Sarah, I told you to spay her when you brought her here, and you refused. If one of the neighbors has a male leopard, and Kitty was out of your sight for even half an hour, it's possible."
Sarah was confident that JoAnna is mistaken. "That is not possible because Kitty has a GPS tracker and she never left our property. Also, if any animal bigger than a squirrel cos in, Eve notifies us."
It's not that JoAnna does not believe Sarah, but she is confident that Kitty has baby-kitties in her belly, and they had to be conceived sohow. "You are saying that Kitty was always accounted for? She never went missing? I'm not an expert, but big cats are pregnant for about 3 months, and this is about halfway in."
"But Kitty was never…" Sarah paused.
JoAnna grinned. "It seems that you rembered sothing."
Sarah nodded faintly while talking: "When we went to get the poachers, who killed Kitty's mother, she was missing in the forest…"
"There you go!" JoAnna exclaid victoriously. "Mystery solved. Kitty is not constipated or bloated; she is expecting cubs."
Sarah noticed that JoAnna spoke in the plural. "Cubs?"
"I can see at least two. But you should get a veterinarian to check on her."
Sarah stared at JoAnna and then at Kitty while this information sank in.
"Kitty is pregnant, so maybe we get a veterinarian from Texas to co here so that she does not travel." Sarah said when she recuperated from the shock.
JoAnna laughed. "Even if the veterinarian is from Japan, big cats are still illegal in California."
Sarah knows that JoAnna is right, but she has a solution. "We can blindfold him, and he will not know where he is."
JoAnna made a face. "OK. That will work."
Sarah gave a big hug to JoAnna. "Thanks! I'm going to tell Aiden!"
JoAnna watched Sarah dash out of the room and the looked at Kitty. "Your one night stand resulted in pregnancy. I can see that you didn't attend my classes about contraception."
Kitty snorted, hopped off from the examination table, and walked out with elegance.
…
Sarah found Aiden in the study. He was with Michael and Haru, discussing their next mission related to Voronins.
They all paused and looked at Sarah who bead from happiness.
"Good news?" Aiden guessed.
"We are going to be grandparents!" Sarah exclaid.
Aiden was stupefied. How can they be grandparents? They are too young. And don't they need to be parents, first? Unless… one of their kids is pregnant!
Aiden glared at Michael and Haru while wondering, which one of them ssed up?
Michael and Haru didn't miss the change in Aiden's mood. They glanced at each other in confusion before returning their gaze to Aiden.
Sarah realized what is on Aiden's mind and she burst into a laugh. "Not them…"
"Is it Ron?" Aiden guessed. But then he realized that Sarah is ecstatic. If any of their girls is pregnant, she would not be so happy. "Who is pregnant?"
Sarah bobbed her head excitedly before announcing: "Kitty!"
Aiden could not believe it. "What? How? When?"
"Rember that when we were in the forest, taking care of poachers, she went missing?" Sarah was grinning while waiting for Aiden to connect the dots.
Aiden rembered. Kitty was missing and they almost left her behind, but Sarah insisted to do another round of calling for Kitty and that is when Kitty showed up.
Aiden had difficulty accepting it. "Are you sure she is expecting? Didn't you say that she is bloated or constipated?"
"Her belly is bloated BECAUSE she is expecting. We need a veterinarian to confirm that everything is in order. Let's kidnap one from Texas. We could get one from here, but I suspect that veterinarians from there have more experience with big cats. Do you think that cubs will stay on a tree, or do we need to build them a house? We should at least get them a room. Maybe they can share with pups… Anna saw two cubs, but there could be more… If the dates match, Kitty will have her babies in December. It will be a fun Christmas!"
Aiden listened to Sarah chattering excitedly and he shook his head helplessly. Great. They need to kidnap a veterinarian and they will have more fur-babies. And what about him? When will he be a father? But Aiden saw that Sarah is super-excited and he didn't want to spoil it for her.
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