I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

The next few days were uneventful. Alisha and Tye were continuing to put out little fires but it seemed they weren't catastrophic like some of the ones that had been popping up earlier.

I spent most of the day lounging in Alisha's office, on my phone or reading a book.

After so many hours doing that, though, I was starting to go crazy.

Alishas typing continued in short bursts as she read, responded, and organized things. Even without her doing the rounds and other face to face meetings with captains, her time was filled with more than enough work.

I stretched on the couch and flipped over so I was looking at her upside down across the room.

She didn't even look up at my antics, eyes still scanning lines of text.

If that’s how it is, I mentally grumbled, and slid off the couch to sulk on the floor.

Still no response. She was really dedicated to whatever task she was doing.

I considered maybe I shouldn't distract her. And then decided it would be worth it.

I got up then and slunk over. She still hadn't looked up as I came to the back of her chair and leaned against it, letting my arms fall over her shoulders.

She flinched and let out a ‘ahk,’ of shock that was somehow more shocking then my sudden intrusion on her space.

We were both very still for several seconds before I snorted and started to laugh at her.

“It's not funny,” she protested and freed herself from my arms just to swivel her chair around and show me an annoyed frown.

“I've never heard you squawk before.”

“And you never will again,” she stated and crossed her arms. “What is it, Kitten?”

“Sorry,” I apologized first as she was not cracking into a more playful Alisha. “I won't do that again. But I am bored.”

“Bored?” she repeated.

I nodded.

“You can go home and watch TV,” she suggested. “Lili will take you.”

“I can already do that here on my phone,” I explained.

She inhaled deeply. “Why are you bored then?”

“I dunno… nothing's happened in like a week.”

“That's probably a good thing,” Alisha sighed. “You need something to feel like you're doing something though…” her fingers steepled then.

I took a couple steps back and plopped down onto the impeccably clean floor.

“I've been considering opening a cafe in the lobby. That space is under utilized and it would give you a place to work inside my security perimeter. Whoever manages it won't be giving you trouble for carrying a firearm should they happen to spot it.”

I blinked. “You want to just… open a cafe?”

She nodded. “It makes sense.”

“I mean… that's a massive investment to decide on a whim,” I explained. “Most cafes fail to turn a profit for a long time.”

“Three days' consideration is not a whim, Kitten. And I can beef up the front security without drawing attention that way. It'll be a useful addition.”

I still had a hard time believing her. “The profits…” I reiterated.

“It won't be a problem. Most new operations don't make much revenue at first, regardless of the industry. I've already looked at the projections and it won't influence our bottom line.”

I didn't understand fully what she'd just said but nodded.

“Actually…,” she turned back to her desk and picked up a slim binder that had neat sections labeled. She held it out to me. “I have a lot to do today but if you want you and Lili can go down to the restaurant supply store and look at their equipment options. You'll know better than I would what you'll need so make a list.”

I was stunned but took the binder. She wanted my opinion on what a cafe would need? “I don't think I have enough experience to know exactly.”

“That's fine. I'll be hiring managers and business advisors specifically cafe oriented.”

I nodded. “Okay,” I agreed. I still felt unsure but I decided to go with it even just to wander around restaurant stores and touch all of the tiny espresso cups and the little saucers. I was halfway out the door when I paused and looked my head back in. “Can things be cat themed?”

“Yes,” she said. And then she went back to being locked in on her computer.

Lili stood as I approached and fell in step at her usual place behind me.

We arrived at one of the many restaurant supply stores quickly. It was both cool and disappointing. I hadn’t seen much of the guts of commercial kitchen which they had here. Ovens, coolers in all shapes and sizes, massive packages of plates and mugs. Anything a generic restaurant would ever need.

There was very little cat themed merchandise though. Everything was white, black or stainless steel.

I still looked around and took notes. The owner eyed me the entire time as I did so.

A cafe would need an espresso machine, coffee grinder, blender, a milk frother if the espresso machine didn’t have one attached, a lot of obvious things but less front and center things. Wet floors signs and fire extinguishers, what kind of bathroom would the cafe have access to, since the building was pretty well equipped already. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alisha wanted a separate bathroom though. Security was quietly tight. I had seen a glimpse of the camera room and chillingly how thoroughly every access point was monitored as well as most of the hallways and open office spaces. To an outsider it would look like paranoia. To Alisha, it was only prevention. There was still no guarantee someone wouldn’t get past the initial security, or turn on her from inside.

After a while of wandering around the store, taking pictures and making notes in Alisha’s scrap paper section of the binder (she seemed quite particular about where everything went in there), I stretched and looked over at Lili. She was extremely bored but tolerating the situation so far.

“You wanna do some market research?” I asked.

She looked confused.

“Let’s go get coffee,” I clarified.

“Sure,” she agreed happily.

We started back on our way out. The owner scowled at us because we hadn’t bought anything but Lili scowled back just as rudely.

I was just getting in the back seat of the car, Lili standing by me when my phone vibrated.

I got settled but pulled it out and looked down to find a text from Alex:

am I about to die?

I frowned. And replied with a ‘?’ before pulling the seatbelt around me.

Just got picked up from work.

Black SUV.

No explanation.

I felt my own face pale. Surely not. Alisha wouldn’t harm Alex… unless they really did something I didn’t know about that was… severe. People did talk. Alex was smart but even people that didn’t gossip could slip up.

Oh no.

I bit on the back of my finger

“Lili,” I interjected as she was starting to pull out of the parking space.

“Hm?” she asked, stopping abruptly.

“I’m sorry, we need to go to the office,” I explained.

“Ok,” she agreed.

I fell back against the seat again and sent another message.

I’ll be there in 10 minutes. Just stay calm, I’m sure she won’t murder you.

I held back my mental reasoning that she wouldn’t be so obvious about it.

At the same time she’d sent me away. She could’ve done so to keep me from witnessing something unpleasant.

And if she had just wanted to talk to Alex, why not just call them. Why the theatrics? Why men in a black SUV?

I stopped the spiral there and instead texted Alisha.

Is everything okay?

---

AN: I am almost done packing... kinda. However instead of focusing on writing to relax I instead got hyperfocused on sewing. I'm pretty sure I have some form of ADD/ADHD and that it may be more severe than I thought it was.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. DW Alex will be fine