Chapter 15
A month has passed in the Evans family household, and not even a week ago, Sebastian's mother had left to go back to Romania. It was a tearful departure, but with Georgeta promising to come back soon, the girls and Sebastian know that it hopefully won't be very long until they see her again. Though Sebastian had tried to talk her into moving back to America.
Right now though, the summer holidays have started, which means the family gets to spend more time together during the day. Well, that is when Chris isn't shut away in his office working on stuff. But he has to get this work done before the the deadline.
Today though, while Chris is shut away in his office, Sebastian has decided to take the girls out for the day. Where to, he's not so sure just yet. There is a few things that they need to get from the store though, so that's first on the list for today.
He is thinking of taking the girls to the SPCA for a visit for something to do though, so maybe after they've been to a few shops they can go there afterwards. Just as long as the girls behave themselves though. During the hotter weather they tend to be a bit restless, and not really do as they're told.
"Chris, I'm taking the girls out for the day." Sebastian says, walking into Chris's office, which really is more like their little library as most of their books are stacked on shelves upon shelves in this room. Well, minus the shelf that's out in the living room.
"Okay." Chris says, looking over his shoulder at Sebastian from where he sat at the desk with a large a5 visual diary in front of him. "If you go out to the store, can you get me a Redbull?" He asks.
"Sure." Sebastian says, walking over to him. "How's work going?" He asks, sneaking a look at the building design stuff that Chris is working on.
Chris shrugs. "Okay I guess." He says. "I may need to call Steve in a little while though."
"Alright. If you do, tell him I said hi, and him and Bucky." Sebastian says, before kissing Chris on the cheek. "I'll see you in a little while."
"Okay." Chris nods, pulling Sebastian down for a kiss, before letting him leave.
As Sebastian leaves the room, Chris gets back to work on the building designs from the concept sheet that his boss had emailed him earlier. Though, currently he's not very happy with how it's turning out on paper right now. The measurements looks about right, but just the whole thing looks a little messy to him.
He's really going to have to call Steve up about this soon. Maybe see if he's not busy that he can come round and give his opinions on it before he gets to making the blueprints for the building. He likes to get his bosses input on his designs before he gets the final layout done.
For now though, he's just going to go make himself another coffee and take a short break before he gets straight back into work.
******
"Alright girls." Sebastian starts, getting the three of them buckled into the car. "Who's ready to go out for the day?"
Both Taissa and Emma yell their excitement out to him, while Sabrina just laughs at them from her carseat as she waves her plush black cat toy around.
"Great." He smiles, happy to see all three of his and Chris's girls excited to go out somewhere for the day so that they're not just cooped up in the house bored out of their minds.
Sebastian isn't sure if he would've been able to last another minute in the house with Taissa and Emma complaining that there's nothing to do, so his best option was to take the three of them out for the day. It also gives Chris the opportunity to work in peace at home without the girls bothering him.
Though, Sebastian has a feeling that as soon as they get home, that Chris may inform him of some elaborate story about how Muffy supposedly tried to kill him again. Now he'll admit that his cat is an ass at times, but there's no way that he'd actually try and kill Chris, or anyone for that matter really. His cat may be an asshole at times, but he definitely isn't a killer.
But Sebastian knows that Chris is more of a dog person than a cat person, so he really can't blame him for not being very fond of the cat. He also knows that if he's not careful, that Chris is going to one day come home with a dog without consulting him. In fact, Sebastian feels as though that is exactly how it's going to happen.
Double checking that the three of them are all buckled into their carseats, Sebastian gets into the car himself, before they're off into town.
******
"Well, Chris." Steve starts, standing back as he examines the work that Chris had finished, but wasn't sure about. "It looks fine to me. Maybe a few things you could change up here and there, but other than that, it's basically what our clients are after for their building."
"Are you sure?" Chris asks, examining over his work for what felt like the millionth time today. "It doesn't quite feel right to me."
Chris has always been a little self conscious about his work, worried that whatever he designs won't be good enough and he'll have to start over from scratch again. But his boss, Steve, is always there to tell him it looks good, but a few tweaks here and there could improve it.
Steve is also usually telling him to make sure that the designs are easy enough to make for when the builders get to building it. They don't want the designs and measurements to be too extravagant to the point where it's difficult to follow the blueprints for it.
"Chris, you've been working with us for nearly four years now. You've yet to fail us, and I have faith that you never will." Steve assures him. "You're one of the best designers we've had in a long time."
At the praise from the older alpha, Chris can't help the light pink blush from appearing on his cheeks. Though, his beard manages to hide some of it. But if Steve has managed to notice it, then he doesn't say anything.
"Well, if you say so." Chris says.
He supposes that what he's managed to finish so far isn't that bad. Steve seems to think it looks okay, just maybe a few tweaks here and there is all that it needs.
Steve nods. "Now, I've gotta go now." He starts. "Bucky's not feeling too well, and he's wanting me to pick him up a few things." He says. "One of which just has to be Starbucks." He says in dread.
"Bucky makes you go out to get him Starbucks too then?" Chris asks, knowing what it's like to have to go into Starbucks to get Sebastian's coffee sometimes all too well.
"Yeah." Steve sighs. "I honestly try to avoid going in there myself, but Bucky is often pretty set on me going out to get him his precious green tea frappuccino, or whatever the hell it's called." He says.
Chris nods. "Seb's the same. Though, I think it's the salted caramel one that he usually gets." He says. "But I know exactly what you mean."
"Just give me a call if you're not sure on anything else." Steve says, after Chris has walked with him outside to his car out in the driveway.
"Will do." Chris says, waving Steve off as he drives out of the driveway and down the street.
Once Steve's car is out of sight, Chris heads back on inside and back into his office to do some more work on the designs. All the while glad of the fact that he has a good friendship with his boss, and that he can easily go to him if he's not sure on anything. Honestly, if Chris had anyone else as his boss other than Steve Rogers, he's not so sure he would enjoy his job as much as he does.
Sitting back down on his chair, he looks behind him over at Sebastian's favorite reading chair to find Muffy sitting there watching him. He's fairly certain that ginger furball wasn't there when Steve was here, and he wouldn't be surprised if the cat had followed him in here just now.
Though, as much as he'd like to kick the cat out of the room, he decides against it. He doesn't want to get clawed up by him again. That cat sure may be getting old, but his claws are still sharp as fuck, and Chris doesn't like it. He'd much rather they have a dog, but he and Sebastian had agreed on no dogs just yet. Unfortunately.
Doing his best to ignore the cat's presence, Chris gets right back into his work. Knowing that now is probably the best time for him to get anything done before Sebastian and the girls get home.
******
"Okay, who wants to visit the SPCA?" Sebastian asks, once he's got the girls back into the car after just getting out of the store to by a few things. Though, before that they did go to the park for a bit.
"I do!" Taissa and Emma exclaim at the same time, while Sabrina just squeals, despite not knowing what's going on.
"Are we going to get a dog, mommy?" Emma asks.
Sebastian sighs, knowing that Emma or Taissa would ask that. But he and Chris agreed on no dogs just yet, even though Chris and both Taissa and Emma want one. Honestly, Sebastian doesn't really want a dog all that much, seeing as he's more of a cat person, but he's not totally against the idea of getting a dog in a few years time.
"No, we're not going to get a dog." He says. "If we were, then you know your father would be here with us right now." He tells them. Sebastian wouldn't hear the end of it from Chris if they went to get a dog without him. "We'll get a dog one day, I promise. Just not today."
Both Taissa and Emma voice their disappointment, but luckily for Sebastian it doesn't last very long as he drives out of the store parking lot. He guesses that they're just excited either way from the fact that he's taking them to the SPCA for a visit, which isn't something they get to do very often. Mainly to keep Sebastian from caving in and adopting every cat that he sees. If he did that, then Chris would probably kill him.
Pulling up into the parking lot outside the SPCA building, they can already hear all the puppies and dogs barking away, just waiting to get adopted. Which tempts Sebastian to adopt one, but he fights off the urge to adopt one. They're not ready for a dog just yet, he's not actually sure when they'll be ready for one, but Taissa and Emma seem to think they're ready for one. Chris too, even if he doesn't exactly show it.
Getting the girls out of the car then locking up afterwards, he leads them inside the building and over to the front desk. He does whatever he needs to do to allow them to view the dogs and puppies, seeing as you can't just go in and view them, unlike the cats.
As they look through the pens where all the dogs are (unfortunately unable to go in and interact with any of the dogs or puppies, much to Taissa and Emma's disappointment), Sabrina squeals in delight as she gazes round at all the dogs and puppies. Sebastian also ends up having to adjust his hold on her, as she starts wriggling around in his arms, more than likely wanting to get closer to the animals.
"Tai, Em, be careful." Sebastian calls, as the two of them run a bit ahead of them.
Shaking his head, he keep an eye on them as they stop in front of one of the pens with three little puppies inside. As cute as the puppies are though, as soon as he gets over to them, he has to remind Taissa and Emma that they can't adopt one of them. Which causes the girls to whine, while Sabrina makes grabby hands towards the puppies. Sebastian takes that as a hint that she wants a dog just as much as her older sisters do.
While they walk around, a beta woman, who's maybe a couple years older than Sebastian walks over to them.
"Hi, are you looking to adopt?" She asks.
Sebastian shakes his head. "Unfortunately not today." He apologizes. "We're just visiting." He says. "Honestly, I wouldn't hear the end of it from my husband if we were to adopt a dog or puppy without him."
The lady nods, telling them that if he changes his mind, to come get her. Sebastian thanks her, but he has no intention of finding her again. They're not here to adopt a dog. They're only here to visit for something to do today. Even if it is a little upsetting that they're at the SPCA with no plans on adopting...
Once they've had enough at looking at the dogs, they head on over to where the cats are, with Taissa and Emma's moods brightening at the fact that they're allowed to go go in and interact with the cats and kittens. Though, only with parent supervision.
Sabrina seems to enjoy herself seeing all the cats, with almost all of them smooching up to her, and luckily some of them aren't too bothered when she pulls a little too hard on their tails. Though, Sebastian does stop her from pulling on their tails for the most part, but sometimes she's just too quick for him to stop her.
One of the elderly cats in one of the pens in particular ends up taking a liking to Sabrina, which understandable confuses Sebastian, as he would've thought that the more elderly cats wouldn't be interested in young kids. It also makes him upset at the amount of elderly cats in here, and he wishes that he could just take them all home with him.
He'd gladly adopt every single elderly cat in here, and allow them to live out the rest of their years in a loving home. Except, Chris would probably kill him if he were to come home with every single elderly cat in here. Even if they are elderly cats...
There's also the case that he's not too sure how Muffy would react if a bunch of elderly cats - or any other cat for that matter - just suddenly started living with them. Muffy has been Sebastian's only cat for twelve years now, and he doubts that he'll be just okay with a new cat invading his territory. He's not even that nice to the neighboring cats.
"Mommy, look!" Taissa says, pointing over to the pen with all the kittens.
Only, there wasn't a bunch of kittens in there like Sebastian would've thought there would be. Instead, there was only one little ginger kitten in there, playing all by herself. Well, according to the board thing the kitten is a female.
Seeing her all alone in there, upsets Sebastian greatly. It also reminds him of back when he was only 14 and his mother took him to the SPCA to adopt a kitten. Muffy was the only kitten there at the time, and Sebastian just couldn't leave him there, even though his mother had already allowed him to adopt a cat or kitten. Come to think of it, that reason alone may be why Muffy doesn't like other cats, as he was all alone at the SPCA with no other kittens to play with.
But seeing this little kitten all alone in her pen, makes Sebastian actually want to adopt her, even when he had promised himself that they're not adopting today. But he can't just leave her there all on her own with no other kittens to play with.
Sighing, he shakes his head, and makes up his mind on what he's going to do. Even if it's a decision that'll make Chris mad...
"Chris is gonna kill me for this..."