Annie would be the first to dispel the rumor that firefighters spent most of their time rescuing kitty cats out of trees.
...but sometimes it did happen.
And so she found herself in the waiting room of a vet's office, a very confused cat wrapped in a spare blanket, and a nice scratch on her face. Annie sighed. This was not how she'd anticipated spending her time off from work.
Lucy glanced over at the new arrival and brought out a clipboard so that the lady with the cat could just give her the information. Easier than chancing the cat jumping out of her arms and hiding somewhere in the clinic. They'd had that happen with the cats before and it usually ended in scratches about as nice as the ones the cat's escort sported. "And who is this?" she asked, pen poised to take the info.
"Oh, umm, she's not mine," Annie stammered, glancing up at the assistant. "We rescued her out of a tree....I wanted to see if she maybe had one of those chips. See if she had an owner..." She kept the cat thoroughly pinned while she scratched at the scratch on her face.
"You know, for all the stereotypes you hear about this sort of thing, this is the first time we've ever had a firefighter and a kitty come to see us." Lucy grinned and jotted that info down. "We'll see what we can do for her." she added as she scritched the kitty under the chin. "Aww you're so cute."
The cat gave a little helpless yelp, glancing up at the new lady. It was obvious she wanted out of the towel.
"Yeah, I think that's why I was volunteered to bring her by...that and the guys at the station are all wusses," Annie smirked, watching the woman take down the cat's information. "Thanks for writing that all down for me while my hands are full."
"It's always the guys who do that." Lucy smirked back, "Sometimes I think they're most afraid of just admitting that. I'll let the doctor know and we can go ahead and get her taken care of. Oh not a problem." she assured her, "Better than the usual crazy dogs we get in here." Yorkies...Yorkies just needed to go away.
"Oh?" Annie raised an eyebrow, scritching the cat. "Don't let her eyes fool you. She's got killer instincts this one." Hence the towel. "I mean, it's just a good thing I'm here. For everyone's safety."
"That bad?" Lucy grinned. "We get these awful little yippy things in here that run around tearing everything up and terrorizing all of us." She shook her head. "I'm sure, bad as this pretty girl is, she couldn't beat them in terms of...nastiness. I bet she'd take them in a fight though."
"Oh yeah, mom got one of those when I moved out," Annie laughed, shaking her head. "She wonders why I never visit..." She relaxed back in her chair, taking in the woman that she was talking to. She was actually pretty cute, which normally would have meant turn on the super charm, but Annie was trying, trying so hard to build lasting relationships not based on her hormones. "Compared with Mrs. Whippercup, this animal is nothing. But you've seen the worst of the worst, huh, Miss...?"
"Lucy," Lucy offered a hand to shake around the kitty, which wasn't easy but somehow she managed it. "The stories I could tell you...and the ones the doctor has." Those were all far worse as far as vet stories went anyway. As for seeing the worst of the worst...well those had happened ages and ages ago
"Lucy...I'm Annie." She joined Lucy in the awkward little handshake. "I am always down to hear horror stories. I could tell you some strange things about the calls we've gotten. We should swap sometime..."
"Im always up for that." Lucy grinned. She really didn't know that many people here outside of work, a few people at the archery range and well...her brother. She needed to get out more, she decided, since right now her life was looking pretty pathetic outside of these stories that were great for parties.
"Feel like jotting down some more dictation?" Annie asked, ready to offer up her number to Lucy. She read off her number. Hooray for meeting new people who seemed well adjusted enough!
And Lucy quickly gave Annie her's back. "Oh, don't mind if my brother gets it." she said after passing over a slip of paper with the information. "He's hanging around right now, his house just kind of got destroyed." She didn't elaborate on that one because really, how did you explain the whole 'A giant dog crashed into his living room from Hell' thing? Better not to go into that.
"Do not be disturbed by male voice on the line, check," Annie laughed, glancing back down at the cat who seemed to have calmed down...or resigned herself to her fate. Either or. "Well she's doing better."
"So she is." Lucy scritched the cat's ears again, and then they were ready to take her back and look for the chip. "Let's go see where she belongs."
Annie nodded, hefting up the cat and following along at Lucy's heels. "What do we do if she doesn't have a chip?"
"Well, we can put up a couple ads for a few days, but those don't really last so long." Lucy said, thinking about this as she got the kitty settled in the room, "After that, it's usually off to the shelter unless she decides she likes it here. We've had a couple office cats before. Or she could head home with you if she'll deign to accept that."
"Deign? I'm not that bad..." Annie replied, giving a slightly wounded look. "If she doesn't pop up, I could ask the guys at the station. Station pets are quite popular...not quite the classic dalmation, but then we're all a little unorthodox over there.'
"You know how cats are." Lucy said with a little laugh at that look. "We can only guess what option she's going to go with."
"Well hopefully she has a family," Annie said, more than willing to look on the bright side lest her emotions talk her into adopting a cat she didn't need.
"And let's see..." Lucy was well trained in all the technical aspects of the job so she was able to run the scanner herself. "I don't see anything coming up..." she said, finishing up and offering the cat a treat for her troubles. "I can let you know what happens with tracking them down."
Now that they were safely away from other people, Annie was happy to release the blanket, giving her arms a good rub for their troubles. "Okay that'd be great..." She ran a hand along the cat's back and got a scowl for her troubles. "I hope it works out for her."
"Me too." Lucy agreed, "Thanks for bringing her by, it's much better than her just wandering around somewhere lost and alone." Which was a lot of what she saw half the time and it really pissed her off. That sort of thing always pissed her off, how most people just tended to ignore that kind of thing. She was glad Annie wasn't one of those sorts. "We really appreciate it when people do."
"Just doing my duty." And then Annie saluted. Which in retrospect was really corny and an instant regret. She laughed nervously, taking a step towards the door. "I'll...uh...give you a call so we can talk...horror stories. Or I'll just wait to hear about pooky. It was really nice meeting you."
"Good to meet you too." Lucy laughed at the salute. She could definitely be good friends with Annie, she decided, and resolved to give her a call. "We'll definitely meet up soon."
Annie nodded, quickly seeing herself out of the office. "You saluted! Oy..."
Summary: Annie and Lucy befriend each other when the former brings a stray cat into the latter's office.