Narrator's POV

"Hah..." Bucky sighed, sitting up from his bed. He walked over to the door and opened it to see Sam's door closed. He made his way to it, slowly raising a closed fist to knock, but hesitated. He held his breath, then knocked. "Sam."

There was no answer.

"Look, I gave what you said some thought." Bucky said. "And you're right. We can't afford to keep her. The lifestyle we carry is not safe for her. It's not ideal for a pet." He said. "So I've come to agree that it'd be best for her to be taken to the Humane center. Maybe there she'll find a better family to take care of her. I'd just like to give her away with a proper send off."

There was silence.

Bucky rolled his eyes, about to give up on this and call it stupid until the door opened.

Sam stood at the door.

The cat came out, walking around Bucky's legs and meowing.

"What did you have in mind?"

///0///0

"There." Bucky said, finishing adjusting the heart shaped name tag on now Alpine's brand new collar.

"I like it." Sam said.

They were both in Sam's car, parked in front of the Human center.

"How'd you come up with it?" Sam asked.

"I saw it on a magazine." Bucky said, petting Alpine.

"It's suits her." Sam smiled at the purring cat, scratching behind her ear. He looked up at the center, then at Bucky. "Ready?"

Bucky gave him a nod.

They stepped out of the car, Bucky carrying Alpine in his arms, and up the ramp to the main office.

~ding~

A small bell above the door rang.

There was furniture around the place, along with cats all over the place, playing and chasing each other. Others were simply sleeping and laying lazily on the furniture.

"Hi, there." A lady at the desk greeted them. "Welcome, my name's Margot. How can I help you gentlemen?"

"Hi, we were hoping if you guys could take her in." Sam pointed over at Alpine in Bucky's arms.

"Oh, she is gorgeous." Margot said, extending her arms out for Alpine.

Bucky gently handed Alpine to Margot.

"Such a precious baby." Margot said. "I'll just need you to fill out some forms for me." She said, taking out a clipboard and a pen.

"Alright." Sam said, taking them and going over to the couch to fill them out.

"You'll take good care of her here, yeah?" Bucky asked Margot, petting Alpine, now sitting on the counter, gently.

"Of course." Margot said. "She's in good hands. All our cars and kittens are treated with the most gentle hand and absolute best care."

Bucky looked at Alpine.

Sam came back up to the desk. "I-"

"Damn cats everywhere." Another voice came into the room.

They all turned to see a lady come in. She was old, stocky and dirty.

"Doing an adoption?"

She asked Sam and Bucky.

"Actually Joan-"

"Good." Joan cut Margot off. "Another free space to cram a pest in. I'm telling you, there's so many of them in here. I don't know if we'll even be considered humane anymore."

"What?" Sam turned to her.

"We're gonna have to start euthanasia pretty soon if these cats keep pouring in like this." Joan said.

"Nobody told me we were using euthanasia now. We always sent the other to other shelters." Margo said.

"Other shelters are getting full too." Margo.

"Forget that." Sam said, ripping the paper he had just filled out.

"We're keeping her?" Bucky asked.

"The hell we are." Sam said. "We're not putting her here only to make this her final resting place."

"But you said-"

"Never mind what I said." Sam said, picking Alpine up. "She's staying with us, and that's that. End of discussion. Have a nice day ladies." Sam said making his way to the door.

Bucky turned back to Margot and Joan, shrugging and following Sam.

"Congrats." Margot smiled at them.

///0///0

Bucky looked out the window as Alpine sat on his lap, enjoying the warm sun that came from the windshield.

A smile formed on his lips.

"Stop." Sam said.

"What?" Bucky turned to him.

"Don't pretend like I don't know what you're doing?" Sam said. "I see you smiling in that mirror. You're gonna turn to me and thank me, and just get all sappy."

"How can I not?" Bucky looked down at Alpine. "You saved her life."

"Oh, don't start."

"Thank you, Sam." Bucky said.

"Yeah, yeah." Sam nodded. "But she's staying in your room, I don't want hair all over my stuff."

"Done." Bucky said.

It got quiet in the car.

"Ch." Sam scoffed, smiling and shaking his head. "I can't believe we kept the damn cat. You know what they say about three to a house."

"What?" Bucky asked.

"It's a family." Sam said.

Bucky's head perked on a little.

A family.

"A family?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "Well, it's that's too sappy for you: a full house."

"No, no." Bucky shook his head, looked down at Alpine, then at Sam. "I like it that way." He said.

"Hm." Sam smiled, keeping his eyes on the road and driving them to their now, family home.