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Jebediah all but hops into the club. He's usually early to work. By the time the club is meant to open, Jebediah has already got the entire place looking immaculate and that was because of his ever present desire to make Doug, Jay and Sam proud of him. This time though, Jebediah isn't just running late for being early to work, he's just running late in general, which absolutely is not like the brunet. "Ah'm here, Ah'm here." He pants, arms wrapped around something by his chest, he's got a bag hanging off his shoulder, his hair is ruffled, but he's wearing nice clothes. Very nice jeans, ones that fit, meaning they are actually new. "Ah'll get to work right away, Ah swear. Can Ah set her in your office?" He asks Doug, approaching Doug close enough now so that he can see the tiny black and white ball of fluff in his arms.
Doug raises his eyebrows, and then leans forward, peering at what Jeb's holding. He had to set up himself today. "…Does Sam know you got a cat?" He asks, his eyebrows going up at Jeb.
"First of all, it's my apartment, Sam just moved in, but yeah, he knows, but she's sick and still has to be bottle fed. Look how little she is! What if he forgets?" Jeb says, rubbing the kitten's chin as he holds her out towards Doug, almost like he's encouraging Doug to pet her.
Doug pauses, and then he moves to stroke the kitten behind the ear with one finger. He listens to her purr, and then he says, "She loves you very, very much. I speak cat." He says. Of course he speaks cat. "What's her name?"
"Really?" Jebediah looks at the kitten, lifting her up while she purrs far louder than her little body ought to be able to. "Buttermilk." He says. "Her name is Buttermilk. We found her in the park with two other kittens, their mama wasn't anywhere to be found and she was the littlest and sickest, so Ah took her, since Ah know a thing or two about kittens."
Doug sighs, and his expression softens, dramatically. "Jeb, you really are a kind soul." He doesn't presume to instruct Jeb on how to take care of the kittens, and then he gives a grin, and pours him a coke. "Good boy."
Doug's expression softening makes Jeb smiles, his chest warming. "Oh no, Ah just didn't wanna let her die out there. Ain't her fault her mama ran off or whatever, maybe a car got her. And she's so little." Jeb pulls the kitten up to his face to kiss her fluffy cheek, eliciting a tiny squeaky protest out of her. He watches Doug pour him a coke and smiles when he's praised.
Doug gives an easy shrug, and pushes the drink toward Jeb, before he moves to take the kitten from him, settling her in the crook of his forearm and stroking her behind one ear. "Congratulations, you're a cat-daddy. I've been thinking of getting a dog."
"A dog? That will be a good idea! He'll protect you and the club. They're very loyal." Jeb easily relents the kitten to Doug to take the drink from him, taking a sip and smiling. "Ah'm real sorry Ah'm late, Ah was afraid Ah forgot something and then it ends up Ah had everythin' but Ah forgot the kitten." He rubs the back of his neck with a bashful smile.
If that isn't the most adorable thing Doug has seen in… well, awhile. He continues stroking the pussy, because he's good at it and he doesn't get to stroke the pussy as often as he'd like, and he says "That's all right. Just don't make a habit of it."
"Ah definitely won't sir. It's just my first week with her. She's too itty bitty for food yet, so she's gotta be bottle fed, so Ah brought her bottle, and she's getting over some kinda cold she probably caught while she was out there and the other two was ignorin' her because she was the runt, so Ah cut a piece of mama's quilt so it's just her size to wrap her in when she naps so she ain't shiver all her fur clean off." Jebediah smiles at Doug with /so/ much affection when Doug pets his kitten. "She likes you too."
Douglas says, "Well I'll tell you what." Doug says. "You do all the work around here, so you just tell me when she needs to be fed and I'll take care of it tonight," And then he raises an eyebrow, and says "And we'll take her to the vet tomorrow during the day.""
"Ah've been tryin' to save up to take her, Ah didn't know Ah was gonna have a baby in the middle of the week. Ah'll pay you back, Doug, or you can just not pay me next week. Ah really wanna make sure she makes it. She's a fighter." Jeb reaches over to rub a finger under her chin and Buttermilk pauses to lick his finger. Jeb hands over his bag. "Her bottle is there, Ah actually fixed up before Ah left. You could give it to her now, then she'll sleep all night." Sure enough inside the bag is a tiny little bottle and of course it's pink. "She might argue with you about it until she figures out you're just tryin' to feed her but then she'll drink on her own. She might knead your hand."
Doug says, "I follow you." Then he tilts his head, and grins at Jeb. "You always act like getting something means having to give something up." He snorts, and then rolls his eyes upward. "You can make it up to me by doing your best and working really hard." He does tht anyway.
When Doug grins at him and makes that observation, Jeb shrugs. "Ah guess, Ah just always feel bad when Ah need help, like Ah'm a real big inconvenience all the time." He explains and then downs the rest of the coke. "You know, Doug, you're really handsome when you smile like that."
The corner of Doug's mouth turns up, and he reaches out to give Jeb a pinch. "And you're *adorable* when you're doing the cat daddy thing. Get to work, she'll be in my office if you need to check on her.
"Hey!" Jeb complains, pushing at Doug's hand. "Nu-uh. Ah'm just makin' sure she's all set. She's a sweet little thing and Ah'm gonna take real good care of her and then she'll grow into a big panther and hunt the mice for us and bug the hell out of Jay." He leans over the counter to nuzzle his nose on her head and then finally goes about getting the club set up, moving quick but no less efficient. This club was still going to look like a million bucks if Jebediah Guthrie had anything to say about it.