Abracadabra pspsps

      Andrew doesn’t know how long it takes him to arrive in front of Aaron’s clinic. Not much, probably, but he doesn’t give it much thought. What really counts is that he’s finally there.       He takes the cat into his arms, trying not to cause it too much pain, and goes through the sliding door urgently. The receptionist (Emily? Jess?) takes one look at him and the cat, and quickly leads him towards one of the offices. Apparently, they look pathetic enough to treat the situation as an emergency.       She knocks on the door, but instantly opens them without waiting for the answer.       “What.” Aaron looks towards them, his face a picture of annoyance, but it quickly changes to worry when he sees Andrew. “What the hell?” he asks, but it sounds more like a statement.        Andrew’s aware of what he must look like, with water dripping down from his clothes, creating a puddle on the beige tiles, with an orange cat in his arms that’s definitely seen better days.       “The cat,” Andrew says, his teeth nearly chattering from how cold he is.        Aaron’s eyes focus on the cat and he jumps into action. “Follow me.” He rushes through the corridor and opens yet another door. In the center of the room stands a metal table, and Aaron points towards it. “Here,” he says while taking out some jars from the cabinets.        Normally, Andrew would bristle at being ordered around, but this time he complies without a word. The cat stirs as it’s placed on the hard surface. It looks at Andrew, but then closes its eyes again. No, Andrew’s not worried by it, at all.        There’s a slight tickle on his skin that he recognizes as Aaron’s magic. Andrew’s been so focused on the cat that he hasn’t even noticed Aaron’s appearance. There’s a voice inside his head saying ‘Sloppy’ that sounds suspiciously like Kevin, and Andrew shuts it down with annoyance.       A frown appears on the healer’s face, which – again – doesn’t worry Andrew at all.       “There’s something weird about this cat,” Aaron says, turning a questioning look towards Andrew, as if he knew any more.        “It was under my porch.” Andrew shrugs.       “He,” Aaron corrects absentmindedly, still focused mainly on healing the animal.       “Whatever.” The cat’s gender isn’t important now.        “So you took in a mysterious cat without knowing what he is?” Aaron asks, incredulous. And okay, when he puts it like that it does sound a bit crazy.        Andrew crosses his arms and decides to ignore Aaron’s question. Instead, he steers the conversation back on track. “What’s the verdict, doc?”       Aaron sighs. “I need Katelyn here.” His magic’s still flowing, but there’s no reaction from the cat whatsoever.       Okay, so it’s pretty bad, then. Aaron’s a damn good healer, but he specializes in humans. Of course, he can help the animals with minor things, but when it comes to tougher cases, Katelyn’s the expert here. Andrew takes out his phone to call his twin’s wife (with a grudge, mind you), but Aaron’s voice stops him.       “She’s on her way.”       Andrew doesn’t know when his twin managed to give Katelyn an alert, but he’s not complaining. Normally, he doesn’t really make social calls with her and he doesn’t plan to change it anytime soon.       The clinic's door opens with a bang, and soon Katelyn’s in the office, trying to catch her breath. Water drips down from her green raincoat, but it shielded her from the worst of the downpour.        She holds out a plastic bag for Andrew. “Clothes for you,” she says with a smile, but there’s urgency in her movements.       He takes the bag with a nod, and Katelyn jumps into action. Her raincoat is thrown over a chair carelessly, its owner nearly running towards the sink, rolling up her sweater’s sleeves. After washing her hands thoroughly, she joins Aaron, and they both focus on the cat.       “Poor thing,” says Katelyn and pets the cat’s head gently, pouring some of her magic into him. Her and Aaron work in sync, with Katelyn calling the shots because she has bigger expertise when it comes to animals.        After a quick change of clothes, Andrew sits in the waiting room and fiddles with his fingers. He hates clinics – nothing good ever happens there. Also, the white walls and beige tiles get really boring after the first minutes of staring at them. At least he has dry clothes, so it’s a small comfort at least. Katelyn even grabbed him a black shirt, and the thoughtfulness stirs something in Andrew’s chest. He doesn’t really know what to think of it.         The shirt’s material is a bit worn out, so it’s probably something Aaron wears on his days off (which aren’t many, Andrew notes with disdain). As the minutes stretch out, his fingers twitch with the urge to smoke, but something in him tells him to stay. Andrew’s instincts have saved him multiple times over the years, and he’s learned to trust them. So he stays right outside the office’s door, fiddling with the hem of Aaron’s shirt, and waits.       Andrew doesn’t know how much time has passed before he gets any news. When the office’s door finally opens, revealing smiling Katelyn, he sighs in relief. She wouldn’t be smiling if things were bad, right?        The cat appears to be sleeping finally, probably tired from his ordeal. His breaths are deep and even, unlike before, when Andrew brought him in.       Aaron looks worse for wear, the dark shadows under his eyes even more pronounced now and his hands trembling. The idiot’s probably been overworking himself again, and the current magic exhaustion doesn’t help the case. Andrew makes a note to himself to have a talk with his twin.       “Sit down, before you keel over,” Andrew says to his idiot brother.       Surprisingly, Aaron does so without any complaint. It appears that he must be really tired, then. Normally, Katelyn and Kevin supervise Aaron so that the man actually rests instead of pulling all-nighters. But, as Andrew sees, Katelyn doesn’t look any better than Aaron, and Kevin’s nowhere in sight.       “Where’s Day?” he asks.       “Visiting Wymack and Abby.” Aaron sits with his head rested on his hands, his skin pale.        Andrew hums. He’ll have a talk with Kevin later about leaving without a word. For now, he goes to the social room for the clinic’s staff and comes back with two steaming mugs, which he places in front of Aaron and Katelyn. The smell of herbs wakes them up from their meditative state, and they start sipping the special tea that Renee came up with to help with magical exhaustion. It doesn’t fill you with energy immediately (that would be ridiculous), but helps with the symptoms like nausea or dizziness.        When the healers look like they won’t keel over if they stood up too quickly, Andrew asks, “So?”       It’s Katelyn who answers him first, “He’s okay now. Most of his injuries are healed, but the burns need a bit more time.” After a pause, she continues, “They just wouldn’t respond to our magic, no matter what we did.”        The mystery only grows, then. Andrew looks at the cat contemplatively, as if he could get any answers. The cat continues to lie there, unaware of everything around him.       Aaron’s voice shifts Andrew’s attention back to the conversation. “We’ll keep him here for a few days, and see if the burns can be treated without magic.”       “No, I’m taking him with me.” Andrew’s statement’s met with silence. He’s quite shocked with himself, too, but there’s no turning back now. The quiet voice from the waiting room is back again, and Andrew’s quite curious where this leads. Besides, he loves a good drama, and the cat won’t disappoint him in this area, for sure. He has some suspicions about the small creature, but no means to prove them – at least for now.        Aaron sighs like he’s aged a few years. “Another stray in the collection?”       Andrew smirks at the jest. “Last time I checked, you and your lovely fiancée here were getting along with the ‘stray’ quite well.” Aaron’s pink cheeks and Katelyn’s chuckle are a confession enough about their relationship with Kevin. And don’t get him wrong, he’s glad that Kevin found a place for himself here and doesn’t need Andrew as much as before. Though, being left behind still stings sometimes, but that’s how his life has always been – Aaron found Katelyn, with Kevin later joining them as their familiar, Nicky got Eric, Roland didn’t want anything permanent, so in the end Andrew’s ended up alone once again. And though they all are still in contact, it’s not the same anymore.       Katelyn places a small bag in his hands and a note. “Some medication for him and instructions. Call if anything happens.” She smiles, the dimples on her cheeks showing.        Andrew nods and tries to remember if he still has the cat bed at his house.