It turns out, there are still some other tests Dee had to get done before they can leave the hospital.
He needs to drop off Cream Puff with its owner though, so he calls the office to see if someone is available to either take the carbunclo or to substitute him at the hospital.
"Aren't you needed at the office?" he asks Jessica when she comes to relieve him.
"It's almost five, I doubt there's anything that could come up that I would be needed for, so I was able to leave work early."
He looks out the singular small window the waiting room had to see the sun starting to set in the horizon. Was it already that late? Time apparently did fly. Though it had been around three when they left the office, so perhaps it hadn't been that long.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you just took Cream Puff back?" He lifts up the kennel where the creature was slightly off the floor. Jessica takes half a step back.
"I don't fuck with anything magical," she uses as an excuse not to come close to the carbunclo.
"It's basically just a cat though."
She shrugs, "Basically, not actually. I'm just a normal secretary; don't get me involved in any of your messes. Oh, and I would recommend you call the Director to clear things up before it gets out of hand," she says as she takes a seat, picking up one of the magazines available in the waiting room to skim through.
He turns to Dee, "Jessica will be staying with you. Promise to behave, okay?"
"I won't promise anything." Dee kicks her feet back and forth where they don't manage to reach the floor.
"Fine. Try to at least not burn down the hospital."
"Okay. I think I can do that."
Small victories, he thinks.
He only calls the Director after having dropped off Cream Puff at its home.
"What do you mean you let the kid get into a fight with a cat?!" the Director shouts after picking up the phone on the first ring.
So it turns out Jessice is a snitch, he thinks dryly. He had been planning to leave the fighting part out of his report, and the whole falling-out-of-a-tree business was simply an unfortunate accident.
"It wasn't a cat-" he starts, but is interrupted before he can finish.
"I don't care! What if something had happened to it? Would you have taken responsibility then?" She seems to be more preoccupied with the well-being of the carbunclo than Dee's. "What did the client say?"
"I don't think she noticed," he tells her. The client had been way too busy fussing and fawning over Cream Puff to notice if a few tufts of fur were missing from it. And the creature didn't seem to mind either, simply letting itself be smothered in a bone-crushing embrace, blinking slowly at Kit from its place in Ruby's arms.
"It likes you," she'd told him, "look, it's blinking at you."
Kit had stared back at it. He didn't know how to feel about that. He supposes it's better than to be disliked by it.
"And I assume you didn't tell them either," the Director's voice breaks him out of his remembering.
"Of course not." I'm not that stupid, he wants to add.
"Good." Without further ado, she hangs up on him, leaving him to stare dumbly at his black phone screen. He should probably be getting back to the hospital.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just a broken arm Dee has, because they also have a minor concussion.
The doctor had assured them she would be fine, they only needed a few days of rest and they would be as good as new. The broken arm would take longer to heal though, but again, it was nothing too serious as long as the necessary precautions, such as not getting it wet or applying too much pressure on the left arm, were met.
"Do you need to go pick up anything at the office?" he asks Dee, "Or should we just go back home?"
"I don't think that would be advisable," Jessica interrupts.
"Huh?"
"I think it would be better if they stayed with an actual responsible adult. At least until they get better."
"I'm a responsible adult," he objects.
Jessica gave him a look. "Are you?"
Dee is watching this whole exchange with the utmost interest.
He feels the need to defend himself. "I am," it comes out sounding more like a question. He thinks so, at least. He has managed to stay alive until now, so that must count for something, right?
"You don't even know how to care for a common cold. And besides, even if you were competent," she ignores his protests, "you wouldn't be at home for most of the day."
"I-" He can't refute that. "So what do you propose?"
"They can stay with me. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind taking care of them. She does keep bugging me about when she's going to get some grandchildren, perhaps this might quiet her for a while," she adds as an afterthought to herself. She turns to Dee, who looks intrigued at this new prospect. "What do you say Dee?"
In turn, Dee turns to look at him to see if she has permission to accept.
"It's your choice," he tells her.
She grins. "Okay then," they accept Jessica's offer.
He feels relieved, but at the same time a little bit betrayed at how quickly they had accepted.
~~~
He should have known something was wrong when he couldn't hear Juan Gabriel playing from Eugenia's, one of the second floor tenants, apartment. But he's had a long day, so his brain does not notice the warning signs.
When he reaches the third floor, he's met with a congregation of middle aged ladies right outside his apartment.
There's only three apartments per floor, meaning, there's nowhere for him to hide.
"Kit!" Phyllis waves to him when she notices him, bringing everyone's attention to him.
He wants to throw himself off the building. He already has an idea what this is about. He tries to plaster on a smile, but it ends up coming out more like a grimace. "Hello, Phyllis. Everyone," he nods to the rest in greeting. Immediately, all of them start talking at once.
"Is it true?" Susan, the occupant of the middle apartment on the second floor, asks him.
"Is what true?' he tries to play dumb.
"Don't try to play dumb!" Gertrudis, his downstairs neighbour, scolds him. "We know about the child."
"I'm telling you," Phyllis interrupts, "it's not a child. It was a fox."
He knew that lie from this morning was going to come back to bite him in the ass, but he didn't expect to come back this soon…
"The landlady said it was a child," Margaret, the other inhabitant of the third floor, argues.
"Are you seriously going to believe what that old crone says?" Eugenia waves off Margaret. "Do you seriously believe our Kit would do such a thing? Please, just look at him."
He feels touched that at least someone is trying to defend him, even if she was calling him… Well, a fuck-up.
"It would explain why he's never accepted any of the dates I've tried to set him up with," Gertrudis strokes her chin.
So she admits she's been trying to set me up, he thinks bitterly. Every time he had tried to confront her about it, she had vehemently denied it.
"That could be because of other reasons, you know," Gladis, who lives on the first floor, speaks up.
"No, Gladis," Gertrudis sounds exasperated, "trust me; I've tried setting him up with one of my nephews, and still nothing."
"If anything, that would disprove the child theory even more," Phyllis points out.
"But if there were a child," Margaret intervenes, "that could also be an explanation."
"Coming up with conjectures on our own is not gonna answer any questions," Susan raises her voice over all the others. "Why don't we just ask him like I originally suggested?"
Six pairs of eyes immediately pin him in place. Now he knows how bugs feel under a microscope.
"Well?" Eugenia prompts him.
"Well…" He coughs once. "It's… both."
Once more, they all erupt into questions.
"What do you mean both?"
"How can it be both?"
"So there is a child?"
"And an animal?"
"Actually…" he starts weakly, but everyone immediately shuts up. "Well… Uh. They're both the same person?"
"A shapeshifter?!" Margaret cries.
"Uh. Yeah?"
"A shapeshifter?" she repeats.
"They're not my kid," he needs to leave that clear.
"See?" Eugenia says, smug, "What did I tell you?"
"Then who are they?" Gertrudis narrows her eyes at him.
"They're…" He isn't sure how aware they are of what his job consists of. Most of the time, he thinks they just assume he's just some fancy government exterminator. (Some days, it definitely does feel like it.) "My apprentice," he decides to tell it how it is.
"Ahhhhh…" There's a collective sound of understanding. Perhaps he had underestimated them and they did know more about his job than he previously thought.
"So that's what it was," Susan laughs airily.
"So much fuss for nothing," Gladis says, already heading back to her apartment.
"Well why aren't they with you today?" Margaret asks, and everyone who had already been going back to their apartment whips their heads around to stare at him once more.
"Um. Well. That's because…"
The approval he had won just a second ago was lost by the time he finished his explanation.
~~~
The office feels empty the next day. He thinks it's because Dee isn't here, but it turns out, the office is actually empty.
"Where's everyone today?" he asks Jessica, who is apparently the only one in today.
"The Director is out today," she says by way of explanation, "she had to go away on a business trip. Don't ask me what."
That would certainly explain why Baz isn't here today. Nor Valentine. And now that he thought about it, Aster hadn't been here for the past week, so he doesn't take xem into consideration. But Mousie and Gnocchi…
"I'm here!" Gnocchi calls out from the backroom. Ah, so there he was. That would only leave Mousie.
"What about Mousie?"
"Haven't seen them today," Jessica continues typing.
"Gnocchi!"
"What?" Gnocchi's response sounds muffled.
"Do you know where Mousie is?"
"Um…She said she was sick, so she's not coming today."
Looks like it was just going to be the three of them today. Sighing, he goes to take a seat at his desk. He's already behind with two reports.
~~~
"You have another job today," Jessica informs him when he comes back from his lunch break.
"Another? What is it this time?"
"Gremlins," she informs him, without looking up from whatever it is she's typing.
"Ugh." He really fucking hates gremlins. In his opinion, they were the worst types of pests. The last time he had to deal with gremlins, he'd had to chop off three fourths of his hair. That was three years ago, but the memory was still fresh in his mind.
"Master Kit," Gnocchi materialises from the depths of the storage room, "please take me with you! I can't take this anymore!" he almost begs on his hands and knees. "There was a dead rat! A dead rat!" His eyes shine with unspilled tears.
"In the archives?" Just how long had those things gone abandoned?
"Please, please, please. I'll do anything you ask. Just get me out of here," Gnocchi clasps his hands together, begging him.
Seeing him asking so earnestly, he can't outright deny his request. Still, it had been the Director who'd ordered him to organise the archives and he didn't want to be the one disregarding her orders. Then again, the Director wasn't here today, so she didn't have to find out.
"It's a gremlin infestation," Kit warns him.
"I don't care!"
"Well…" he glances at Jessica, but she refuses to make eye contact with him. He hopes she won't snitch this time. "If you insist-"
"Thank you Master Kit! Thank you! I owe you my life."
"Let's not go that far." He does not want to be responsible for anyone's life. He already has enough on his plate with just his own.
~~~
The bakery is only a twenty minute walk away. It's a small establishment, but from the file Jessica had given him, it's surprisingly popular around the area. The smell of freshly baked bread is noticeable even before the shop comes into view. The storefront has a floor to ceiling glass wall to display their goods, a red and white striped awning providing shade for a few tables outside the shop. The name of the shop, Santa Efigenia, is written in bold cursive font on the front door.
"Huh?!" Gnocchi's eyes appear to show genuine fear for the first time since Kit has known him when the shop comes into view. "Why didn't you tell me it was this bakery?!"
Did Gnocchi… know this place? "…It's just a bakery?"
"It's NOT JUST a bakery!"
"I'm sure it can't be that bad," he tries to console him, "come on, we're already here. Besides, whatever it is, it must beat being locked up in that room all day, sorting through the archives. With dead rats," he reminds him.
"It is that bad!" Gnocchi is close to tears.
Suddenly, the front door bursts open, and the owner, or who Kit assumes is the owner, steps out. Her eyes immediately light up when they land on Gnocchi.
"Is that you S———?!"
"S———?" He turns to look at Gnocchi, who looks like he wants to crawl out of his skin.
"Please forget it, Master Kit."
"I thought Gnocchi was your real name?"
"What do you mean Gnocchi was my real name? It was on my application form when I became your apprentice."
"...Right!" he pretends to remember. He's not about to admit he didn't read the damn thing. Everyone had just called him Gnocchi, so he had just assumed that was his name. There were some weird parents out in the world after all.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming today?" the owner pinched Gnocchi's cheeks.
"Because I didn't know until five seconds ago, Vilma," Gnocchi pouts. Kit has to do everything he can to try not to burst out laughing.
The owner, Vilma as he now knows she's called, seems oblivious to Gnocchis bad mood. "If I had known you were coming I would have had some freshly baked alfajores. But I have some novias if you would like. How are your parents by the way? Your sisters?" She keeps asking him question after question, not even leaving him room to answer, as she leads him into the shop. She hasn't even noticed Kit, and he has to hurry to catch up to them.
"Ahem." He clears his throat when he sees the questions aren't stopping any time soon.
"Ah that's right," the owner finally turns to look at him. "Who would he be?" she asks Gnocchi.
"He's my master," Gnocchi looks mortified by the whole ordeal.
"Nice to meet you," Kit gives her an awkward little wave.
"Nice to meet you too," she gives him a polite smile.
Taking advantage of the fact her attention is finally on him, "So about the gremlin infestation you called about…?'
"Esos condenados animalos!" she exclaims. "Yes, yes, please, come this way," she leads them to a door behind the counter leading to the kitchen, complaining the whole way. "You would not believe the amount of work they've been giving me. I swear, I've aged at least ten years just these two days. Son peor que el diablo!"
There's a guy in the kitchen, not older than twenty-five, his medium length black hair pulled back into a low hanging ponytail. He's wearing an apron with the bakery's logo on it.
"This is Aki," the owner introduces him. He nods politely, and continues arranging the trays full of unbaked bread into the industrial oven.
"Is he new?" Gnocchi whispers at the owner. "I don't remember seeing him around before."
"He started working here about two weeks ago, but he's surprisingly skilled, you know." She stops in front of where the mixing and kneading equipment is. "This is what we've mostly been having problems with. Thank god they've mostly left the oven alone, if not I have no idea how we could stay open."
Gnocchi peers at them. "They look fine right now."
Kit slaps the back of his head. "Of course you're not able to see them. They're not stupid enough to come out when everyone's looking."
"Don't hit little S———!" Vilma slaps his arm.
"...I- I'm sorry?"
"How can you treat such a sweet little boy like that?"
Kit squints at Gnocchi. "She doesn't know, does she?" he mouths at him.
Gnocchi makes a cutting gesture at him. So he was trying to keep up appearances.
Kit clears his throat. "Well, perhaps it would be best if we started now" he quickly changes topics. "If everyone could leave the room it would be better."
Vilma gives him one last warning look before she leaves, Aki and another employee they hadn't been introduced to close behind her.
"Okay, since you're already here you might as well make yourself useful."
Gnocchi pulls a face. "Ugh."
"Who was the one that wanted to come along?"
"Fine, fine. But if you hit me again I'm telling Vilma!"
"Fine!" he clenches and unclenches his fist. "You take the right one, I'll take the other three."
He starts taking out a few seals to force the gremlins to come out, until he notices Gnocchi standing in front of the machine, just staring at it.
"Gnocchi!"
He jumps. "W-what?"
"Do something!"
"...Um. Do what?"
He has to resist the urge to slap him again. (He can feel the owner's gaze on him; she is probably monitoring him through the cameras.) "What do you mean you don't know what to do? I taught you how to do evil attracting seals, right?"
He wrings his hands. "Teach me you did, but…" he scratches the top of his head.
"But?!"
"...but I forgot. Hehe," he laughs sheepishly.