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Three months have passed since Derek and Cora settled back into the loft. It’s the middle of April and therefore very rainy. The rain in Beacon Hills is different than everywhere else they’ve been-Italy, China, Brazila, Austrailia. It feels like home.
Cora insists on buying curtains for the loft because the big windows are just irritating to wake up to. “It’s too bright in here, Derek. I would have thought you’d like darker things, like your soul,” Cora says, laughing as she hangs up dark green curtains that cover the entirety of the windows. The green matches the soft grey colors of the furniture that Cora and Isaac bought from Ikea.
Derek ignores the comment and goes back to reading his book. Something Lydia recommended.
Cora is long done with the curtains and has gone up to her small bedroom on the second floor when Derek hears it - soft scratching outside on the fire escape.
Derek is content to just ignore it, but the sound is persistent. He gets up from his spot on the couch and walks over to the window. When he opens the curtains, her sees a small yellow kitten sitting on the landing.
Derek frowns at it as the wet thing looks up at him and mewls. Not knowing what else to do, Derek opens the window, picks it up, and brings the kitten inside.
The kitten is shaking from the cold, so Derek wraps in the folds of his hoodie, then looks around hoping for someone to tell him what to do next.
Cora comes down from her room when she hears Derek closing the window.
“What is that?”
“A cat” Derek says, as he goes to grab his phone off of the counter. Would Scott know what to do?
“Where did you find a cat?”
“On the fire escape.”
“On the fifth story?” Cora asks in disbelief .
“Cora, I know nothing about cats. Yes, it was on the fifth story balcony. I have no idea how it got there,” Derek says. He starts thinking about what he’s going to do with the thing. The only person that would know what to do with it would be the vet, Deaton. Derek doesn’t really want to go to the clinic and have to talk to him.
Cora just sniffs dismissively and heads out of the loft, probably to visit Isaac or Lydia (Derek just leaves her to do what she wants most of the time).
And Derek is left alone with a kitten. What was he supposed to do with it? He doesn’t exactly keep cat food on hand around the apartment.
Derek calls Scott to help. He works in a vet clinic, surely he’ll know something. Hopefully he doesn’t laugh at him.
“What do you feed a cat?” Derek says as soon as Scott picks up.
“Derek? What? Why do you need to know?”
“What do you feed a cat?” Derek repeats himself, slower this time.
“What do you mean ‘feed a cat’?” Scott says, sounding almost distracted. Probably playing video games with Stiles.
Derek sighs in frustration and hangs up.
He looks around his kitchen for something that would be good for a kitten. He had heard somewhere that you aren’t supposed to feed them milk once they reached a certain age but he can’t remember what age that was.
He also has no idea how old the kitten is. It was tiny, smaller than his large hands.
He holds it up to his chest, letting it curl into the hollow of his neck.
Opening some of the cupboards, he finds a can of tuna fish that he was going to use for his lunch the next day.
Looking at the kitten, who has decided that Derek’s chest is the perfect place to start purring, he decides that he’ll just have to find something else.
---
After opening the can and scooping some of it into a small bowl, Derek sets the kitten on his bed beside the bowl.
The kitten must not have been able to eat recently, because within just a few minutes, he’s eaten all the tuna in the bowl. The kitten turns to him and meows that it wants more. Derek gives it a small smile.
Derek spoons some more into the bowl, but turns away when he hears a knock at the door. He makes sure that the kitten won’t fall from his bed, and walks towards the front door.
As soon as he opens the door, Derek regrets it.
Scott and Stiles stand there, smiling like the idiots that they are.
“We heard something about a cat!” Stiles says excitedly, as he tries to brush past Derek into the loft.
Derek pushes Stiles back out, making him bump into Scott, who was heading in as well. He shuts the door on their grumbling.
He’s almost back to his bed, to the kitten, when he hears the key turn the lock in the door. Why did Cora insist on giving everyone a key to their home?
“Derek, we have got to talk about your hosting skills. They are truly terrible,” Stiles says as he and Scott come over to where Derek is standing by his bed, admiring the kitten.
“Oh my god, Derek. Why do you have a cat?” Scott says, leaning down to pick the kitten up.
The kitten gives a helpless squeak as Scott looks at its underside. “It’s a boy, just so you know.”
“Stop harassing him,” Derek carefully takes the kitten back from Scott’s hands. He glares at him and then sets the kitten back in front of his food, which is almost gone again. “I found him on my fire escape.”
“What are you gunna do with him?” Stiles asks, coos over the kitten licking his paws.
“Thinking of taking him to Deaton’s. Or I might keep him.”
“You’re going to keep a kitten?” They both shout at the same time.
“Can I name him? Please?” Stiles begs.
Derek frowns. It’s his cat, doesn’t he get to name it?
“Rowan. It should be Rowan,” Stiles says.
“Very funny,” Derek deadpans. He’d never admit that he actually thinks the name is perfect. Rowan is another name for mountain ash, mainly used to England and Ireland. He has a weakness for cats. Not that he’d ever tell anyone that.
“Stiles, dude, that’s a great name.” Scott says, laughing at the joke. “Anyway, dude, I brought you cat food. I was fostering a cat last week and had some left over.”
"Don't call me dude," Derek mutters as he takes the bag that Scott offers, taking it into the kitchen to store under the sink.
When he returns, Scott is holding Rowan and Stiles is taking pictures of him.
“Aren’t you two a little too old to be posing for pictures with kittens?”
“Dude, you are never too old to pose with kittens” Stiles says as he takes the kitten from Scott and plops the kitten on Derek’s shoulder.
He snaps a picture of Derek with Rowan before Derek can even blink. Derek glares at Stiles as he shows the picture to Scott.
“Totally sending this to everyone in the pack.”
Whatever. Derek has a kitten now.