8657/Why Not Both

Why Not Both
Date of Scene:	05 August 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Clint and Skye find out about Randy's owner, and it turns out Chez Miscreant will have to make room for two cats.
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Quake

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Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The vet had given both Grant and Randy a clean bill of health. Well, Grant had to get some shots because of his time alone in the mountains but otherwise both cats were fine, and the vet promised to track down Randy's owner from the chip that had been implanted.

It was bitter sweet, it was good Randy would be going home, but bad in that Clint had gotten used to the guy being around.

"Wonder if they'll let me visit," Clint asks as he takes their dinner dishes to the sink to soak until the morning. "I mean if they find the guy he belongs to."

Quake has posed:
Skye feeds the cats while Clint puts the dinner dishes to soak. "No clue. But someone must love him. They're probably wondering where he is."

She grins at the cats who are weaving about her feet and legs trying to kill her while she gets them their late night dinner. "Biggest question is is Grant going to forgive me after we get him fixed." Grant had seemed to forgive her for the shots, so odds were good he'd be okay after a day or two of sulking. The appointment was already made - as May had rightly assumed, Grant was a very proud Tom, and they needed to fix that.

She comes up behind Clint and wraps her arms about him, laying her head on his back. "Look at us. If we're not careful, we're going to become grownups."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Heh, I don't think I would," Clint says about Grant being fixed. "And hey, will that work like a voodoo doll whatever happens to cat Grant, human Grant feels?" he asks with a smirk. Honestly he got along alright with Ward, in that they both enjoyed annoying each other, but it was fun to joke about it given the names and all.

He shakes his head at that thought. "I know right?" he says leaning back against her. "I mean who would have thought?"

Of course that's when Clint's phone rings, "Hold that thought," he says slipping out of her arms and wandering towards his ringing phone. "Please don't be work, please don't be work..."

It turned out it was the vet.

Clint answers, "Wow you guys are calling fast... uh-huh... oh wow... really? Nobody? Does he have any... No... Huh. Okay, yeah," he goes on like that for a bit pausing to take in a big dump of information scribling on a peice of paper on the kitchen island. "Okay, thanks for calling us so quick, we'll let you know."

He hangs up his phone.

"Randy's owner's dead," he says. "Heart attack, they just found him a couple of days ago, they got in touch with his daughter."

Quake has posed:
"Oooo, I hope the real Grant doesn't feel it. That would be mean." Skye got on fairly decently with the human flesh and blood Grant. She wasn't actually sure what had possessed her to name the cat after him, other than that smug look staring at her from the co-pilot seat. "I told you about the AAR, huh?"

She's still grinning when Clint's phone rings, and she's forced to reluctantly let him go answer it, repeating the same little litany in her head. It had been entirely too long since the both of them had had an evening off together, where one or the other of them weren't working on a vital project, and while Skye was involved with Sebastian and the Sentinels, she wasn't the main player in the deal.

For once she had free time on her hands. Time she wasn't entirely certain what to do with, even if she had technically booked a leave of absence off to chase down her mother.

She's already frowning when Clint delivers the news. "So.. what, then? We keep him till his daughter can pick Randy up? That should be okay. He's safe here."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"The one you wrote for him? Yeah," Clint says nodding. "You're lucky Fury likes you or you'd be getting an ice station of your own for that and the lanyard."

There's still a smile though, both those things were epically Skye.

When the call's done and Skye asks her question, Clint shakes his head, "No, the daughter is alergic doesn't want him, we'd either have to give Randy to a shelter, get him put down or adopt him ourselves."

Quake has posed:
Skye gives a wicked little grin. "Yeah, he does like me, doesn't he?'

Fury, it should be noted, liked Skye more than he liked most agents, and while it might not be public news, by this point in time clint was likely more than aware that Skye had been afforded a very protected and unusual status in SHIELD. May certainly had found out, and that had ended Skye's eligability for certain missions.. much to Skye's protests, and eventual agreement.

"I could do things with an ice station. And admit it, you liked the lanyard. I had to do it. The universe demanded it!"

Okay, her perverse sense of humour had demanded it, but she had to admit it was a stroke of genius.

The news from the phonecall, however, has her back to frowning. "Wait, so they're just going to put him down because his owner died?" She already knows where this conversation is going, even if Clint doesn't, and she suspect Clint does. Skye's back already up at the thought of destroying the animal just because someone was allergic. Mind you, weeks ago, she would have been all over: take him to a shelter.

Then Grant happened.

The world was weird like that.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"That he does," Clint agrees emphatically. "Which is why you don't have an ice station, or like several by now."

He chuckles, "And yeah, loved the lanyard, it was hilarious, but if it wasn't you making a lanyard for their cat, ice station." Though it does put a thought in his head. "Wonder if he'd let Lili have one, or Lucky?" he gives his head a shake. "Nevermind we're SHIELD not the Paw Patrol."

One was enough.

Clint's frowning too. "I know right? Total bullshit, first thing, we're not using that vet again for suggesting it, and two at the very least Randy's going to a shelter. I mean the guy deserves a good home."

The 'guy' in question, takes a seat between Skye and Clint just then as if he knows they're discussing his fate.

"I know we really didn't discuss this, but, I mean the vet did say we could adopt," he looks to Skye. "I really would like to keep him."

Quake has posed:
"Several.. I could be a spy slumlord. Rent out to all the spy agenvies wanting to bury their problem spies. Only I'm not sure where the Russian ones get sent." She laughs at the thought of Paw Patrl - whatever that is. "I think May made it clear no more lanyards. At least not official ones beyond Lili gets to accompany Bucky around."

May hadn't outright demanded Skye remove Pawgent Grant Ward's.. which left Skye playing the 'how long before I get told' game.

There was still the matter of Randy, though.

"Wait, it was the vet's idea? You sure it wasn't the daughter's? Lots of people could care less." Yeah. She didn't like the thought of the vet suggesting it. Which meant hunting up another. What did Skye know of finding a vet? though she supposed they could ask outright if they supported euthanizing an animal just because their owner died. As far as ways to thin the herd, it was likely as good as any other.

Skye isn't surprised when Clint says he'd like to keep Randy, and she's torn. On the one hand, they'd had two cats for a week now and things had seemed to go fine. On the other hand.. two cats? Were they really grown up enough to have two cats? Two weeks ago they didn't think they could handle pets, and now two?

"Are we sure about that?" We, not you. "May's right, Hotshot, that's a lot of responsibility." Okay, not much more in any department than cleaning up the litter boxes. (wait till they discovered cat puke)

She's torn. An uncertain fate on one hand... two cats on the other... that look on Clint's face... Randy calmly cleaning his paws post-dinner in a manner that suggested he was waiting to hear his fate.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Ooh, that's an idea, but be sure to cut Fury in on the take, " Clint says with a wink. "And not surprised," he says about the lanyards. He'd played the 'how long until I get told' game before, and so he knew how these things went.

"Anyhow I won't bring it up," he says.

As for the vet thing. "Yeah, not sure if the owner's kid suggested it or what, but yeah, not going to take m-, er, Randy back to that guy, not ever," which spoke volumes of how he viewed the smug orange bastard who'd wandered into their home.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Clint says without hesitation. "I mean sure, they're a lot of work, but they're also nice to have a round, y'know? Good company. Plus have you seen the two of them slow fight? It's hilarious."

Quake has posed:
There's a grin, and Skye reaches over to poke Clint's chest. "You were going to say my cat - admit it. You were."

She watches his face as he talks about the cats, and already knows what she's going to say, even if she also knows they're likely insane for even thinking about it. Then again, she'd brought a cat home from Tibet -- how insane was that?

"They are pretty funny. I was tempted to catch one on video and dub it in Mandarin. Put it up on Grant's Instragram page." Said casually enough that it's entirely plausible there is such a page. "Bet we'd get massive Youtube hits."

Randy gets another look over as she shakes her head, laughing at the two of them. "Still not planning on having any kids. And I guess we shop for a new vet in the morning. Let the old vet know they can tell the daughter not to worry, Randy has a home."

Clint gets a soft look, a crooked grin on her face, "It's what you want. I'm good with it."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The poke at his chest has Clint grinning, "Can't prove it," he counters. But yes, he so was going to say that.

As it was, Clint had never had a pet before, his parents wouldn't get Barney and him one when they were kids, there weren't any at the orphanage and when he was on the road there was no chance there either, so this was about more than giving Randy a home but living a life-long dream.

Clint snorts, "Ha, that'd be perfect, the dubbing thing, wait, Grant has an Instagram account?" he asks before following up with, "Or do you mean Ward's?" which eanrs a further. "Does Ward even know what Instagram is?" he doubted it was in robo-agent's programming.

"With you on the kids thing," Clint assures her. "The cats will be enough and even that is situational, it's not like we went out looking for the guys, right? We're just giving them a good home."

It made it somehow easier to think of that way. "You know, orphans helping fellow orphans," he says. "So, if we find a third cat, we're giving it to Matt, it can be his seeing eye cat or something." He's very much joking, Randy had almost tripped Clint twice since he got here and Clint could see.

That last comment gets a grin from Clint and he leans down to brush a kiss against Skye's lips. "Thanks, Keyboard," he says as he pulls his lips away to lean his head against hers, "You're the best."

Quake has posed:
"Por que los nos dos?" Skye answers cryptically about the Instagram account. She is admitting to nothing, but this is Skye. Hacking into and hijacking Grant's actual account (should there be one) wasn't a huge stretch of her abilities. And given the lanyard, it wasn't outside of the realms of possibility that Pawgent Grant Ward had an account of his own.

"We find a third cat, sure, we give it to Matt. Or Kate. I don't mind being the house where everyone else comes to have a psuedo pet, but I think two is a good number. More than that and we're going to run out of hands to pet them."

And Grant was pushy. Very pushy with his hooman.

She smiles at the kiss, and leans against him in return. "I know. That's why you love me."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint snorts a laugh again, "I'd believe it," he says about the Instagram account. She didn't confirm either of them had one but she didn't deny it either.

"That works," he says about future animals. "Plus bed space," he says of two cats being enough. Despite them having a huuuuge bed upstairs somehow the cats always seemed to fill up most of it when they came to visit.

He smiles at that last and kisses Skye again, "Don't you know it."