panda dehydration
Yelena.
It was an interesting name, and it suited her.
Yelena slept on Kate's couch for eleven hours, eleven hours that she spent in the apartment with her; she was half-concerned for the blonde's safety, half for her own.
She decided that sitting in the armchair and pretending like she wasn't reading the same page over and over wasn't too productive, and eventually got up with a groan to pad into the kitchen.
It was lucky she lived on the ground floor, Yelena mused. She wouldn't have fancied scrubbing the blood off of the stairwell.
Pizza Dog had wandered in at some point, nosing the air as the smell of frying batter filled the room. He was nudging her leg, and she grinned down at him.
"Who's a greedy boy, huh?" She cooed, flipping the pan. Most of her culinary skills had been learned from YouTube channels, as she was unused to living like an actual human at first. The absence of a person serving her food for her and doing all her chores wasn't missed. She preferred to do her own thing.
"Is it you? Is it you?!" PD panted happily, his unscarred eye closing in glee as she scratched behind his ears. "It is you! Greedy, greedy gremlin..."
He skittered off as she began plating up the pancakes and started on some bacon. "If you had hands, PD, I'd ask you to get the orange juice out of the fridge."
There was a scuffling from her lounge, then a muffled voice of annoyance.
"Oh, shit-" Kate turned the hob off, the pan shoved back onto the surface with a clatter as she dashed to the ajar door.
Pizza Dog was pawing insistently at the sleeping Yelena, jumping up at her and licking her bandaged cheek. Her impromptu patient was grumbling and swatting at the air, eyes flickering between open and closed as her brain fought between consciousness and sleep.
"PD! Down!" Kate rushed forward. "Down, boy!" She scooped him up by his stomach, staggering as she lifted him away and onto the floor.
He stared up at her, chagrined.
"I'm sorry." Kate turned to Yelena, who had chosen consciousness, and squinting at her. "He's...very excitable, with new people. The mail guy once thought he was trying to maul him, but really PD was just trying to give him a big cuddle."
"It's fine." Yelena rasped quietly, as Kate knelt and allowed PD to lick all over her face in apology. "What does your son's name stand for?"
"Oh-" Kate flushed a little. "Well-"
"Pediatrician Decimation?" Yelena guessed dryly, sitting up with a wince and glancing as the blanket fell off of her shoulders. Her expression softened a little, as Katie's reddened even more. "Politic Destruction?"
"These sound quite aggressive."
"Panda Dehydration?"
"Yeah, okay, let's stop this." Kate rolled her eyes. "His name is Pizza Dog."
"Who's is?"
"The-" Kate spluttered, pointing to her Boy who was sat eyeing up his own tail. "The dog! Who the hell else would I be talking about?"
"You named a dog." Yelena tilted her head. "After fast food."
Kate scowled and leaned against the armchair, shoving her hands into the pockets of her sweatpants. "It was a spur of the moment thing. Then it sort of...stuck."
"Ah." Yelena smirked devilishly. "So you tried to change his name but he wouldn't respond to anything else?"
"...yeah." Kate glanced away as Yelena rumbled out a small laugh. This one was nicer, less hysterical because of blood loss. She much preferred this one. "My friend Peter insists on calling him Lucky. He took him to the park before school one day and on that day, aced his exam, so."
"I think he looks like a Lucky." Yelena confirmed, inching to the edge of the sofa and holding out her hand. Pizza Dog shifted closer and sniffed her. "He can have two names."
The two women watched as Pizza Dog snuffled her palm before pouncing on her.
"PD!" Kate cried, surging forwards again, but Yelena was beaming.
"He likes me!" She said with delight, though wincing a bit as he placed his paws perilously close to her stitches. "Oof, ow."
"That's enough, you cuddly thing. How about some food, huh?"
Kate had to hide her grin as both Yelena and her dog snapped to attention with wide eyes as she picked her son up again. "Food?"
"Yeah." Kate made a motion like chucking a rugby ball and PD went skittering off down the hall, yapping.
"Where's he going?" Yelena peered after him with a pout. "Food."
"He'll be back, don't worry." Kate talked louder as she went to the kitchen and grabbed two plates she'd piled with pancakes, wedging syrup and butter under her arm. "PD is the most sociable dog you'll ever meet, but his social battery runs out faster than I can devour an entire cheesecake whole. And I pride myself on my cheesecake-eating abilities so, that's saying something."
She brought a tray over to the sofa. "He'll just be lying down for a bit."
"I see." Yelena nodded seriously, eyes fixed on the tray Kate placed carefully in her lap. "Do you make breakfast for every woman you find looking like a punctured juice box in your alley..." The blonde met her eyes as she picked up a fork, winking. "..or am I the exception?"
"Wha-" Kate flushed. "Shut up. This has only happened twice!"
Now it was Yelena's turn to look shocked.
"Kidding." Kate clarified, pleased. She took a bite of her pancake and grinned. "Man, I'm good."
"You are." Yelena agreed, chewing furiously.
"Wow." Kate watched her with raised eyebrows. "Missed a few meals, lately?"
"A few."
"Hm. You shouldn't. Do that."
Yelena snorted a laugh, then winced as her sides twinged. She shook her head and waved away Kate's sudden look of concern. "Shush, I'm fine."
"I didn't even say anything-"
"And it wasn't, you know, intentional." Yelena added, cheeks bulging. Kate was reminded of a hamster. "Out of my control. I'm eating now though, that's what's important."
"...I can see that." Kate observed, watching with her fork halfway to her own mouth as Yelena began licking the butter off of her plate. "You're a model of self-care."
"Right?"
"And I usually clean my plates with hot water and soap." Kate said, voice cracking with a laugh. "Not saliva."
"Oh, shut up. " The blonde growled, eyes twinkling. She set her plate back down on the tray with a sigh. "Well."
"Well..?"
"That was lovely." Yelena clapped her hands on her knees, rising with a suppressed shudder. Kate gawped, knowing that that had to have hurt like a bitch, what with most of this woman's skin being held together by her shitty blue thread and bandages. "I better- ow. I better be off-"
She shuffled a few paces away and stumbled into the doorframe, still clad in her ripped, bloodstained black suit.
"Yelena!" Kate jogged after her, recoiling when Yelena wheeled round with an intense stare, eyebrows furrowed.
"How do you know my name?"
"You-" Kate swallowed. She looked suspicious. "You...told me? Last night?"
"Oh." The blonde relented, shoulders relaxing. She took a step back with an apologetic grimace. "Sorry."
"It's- it's fine, but-" Kate scoffed as Yelena once again began hobbling off towards the front door. "Would you please stop moving?!!"
"No."
"You're going to rip a stitch! You need to take it easy, for a while."
"No." God, she was stubborn. "I will be fine. These are a temporary measure, when I'm back to my full health I'll heal a lot quicker."
Kate blinked as Yelena muttered to herself and rifled through her coats by the door. "Uh-"
"Where is my jacket?"
"Um." Kate ran a hand through her hair, and her heart jolted when she realised it was messy and tangled. Wait, why did she care that she looked like this in front of- never mind. One crisis at a time.
With pinked cheeks, Kate eventually found an olive green army jacket soaked in crimson. "Is it green? Well...it's more red, now-"
"Yeah!" Yelena called from the hall, and she walked in to hand it to her tentatively.
"You can't go out in daylight like that."
"It'll be fine." Yelena waved a hand. "I'll travel by rooftop."
"By rooftop?" Kate repeated incredulously. "Oh, no no no. No the fuck you won't. You will not disrespect my needlework that I worked hard on last night."
Yelena studied her. She looked tired, in general. The sleep had done her good, but Kate could tell when there was the presence of permanent eyebags. She saw it whenever she looked in the damn mirror. "You are a kind stranger. But I will be fine. Thank you for your food, and...kindness."
She looked almost awkward as she walked backwards, shoulder bumping the doorframe. Yelena gave a forced smile before fumbling with her doorlock and spilling out into the apartment hall.
"Goodbye, flower girl."
"Bye-"
The door shut.
Oh. Okay, then.
Kate stood awkwardly in the hall, patting her thighs as she glanced around. "Right."
"Guess I'll just...okay."