Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto)

The rest of the day proved to be fairly normal, but in the morning when Spock went to leave his apartment, Bombay ran out the door.

“Bombay, come back,” Spock called after the feline, but the cat was gone out of the outside courtyard.

At first, Spock wasn’t sure if he should go after him. Bombay wasn’t his and perhaps the cat had decided to leave to seek his real home. But then Spock knew that he could not just let the cat go without knowing he was safe, especially given his already witnessing a person abusing the animal, and so he set out in pursuit.    

When he got to the street, Spock glanced first to the left which would take him in direction of a less crowded suburban area. He saw no sign Bombay had gone that way. He turned to look to the right toward the city and the direction Spock himself would go when going to Starfleet Academy. He spotted Bombay’s raised tail as the cat trotted off in that direction.

With a bit of a sigh, Spock followed after, increasing his pace the more the cat seemed to get ahead of him. Once more he wondered if he should just let the animal go.

He was about to slow his pace when Bombay ran into the intersection of a street and missed getting hit by a speeding hover cab by mere inches. The cat stopped in the street then, looking disoriented, and for a moment Spock thought perhaps the cab had not missed the feline after all.

Spock rushed to his side, ignoring the twinge in his leg, and scooped the cat up into his arms. Another hover vehicle honked at Spock and the cat, so he hurried back to the safety of the sidewalk.

“You cannot run out in front of cars,” Spock admonished the cat, as though the furball could understand him. He glance back toward the way to his apartment. It would take him time to take Bombay and then he would be late to begin the teaching of his class. His leg already ached from overuse considering his prior injury.

Spock made up his mind. He would have to find something to keep the cat in while he taught, but, “You are coming with me.”

****

The day proved to be much more uneventful than it had begun, Spock realized, as he made his way home with Bombay in a cardboard box he had obtained at the Academy.

During two of his taught courses, Bombay had made something of a ruckus but eventually when he realized he wasn’t getting free, Bombay had curled up in the box and went to sleep.

He had just fed the cat when there was a knock on his door. The cat jumped into his arms and began to rub against Spock’s neck and purr.

“Apparently you have forgiven me for trapping you n that box,” Spock said, as he made his way to the door. Whoever was knocking was impatient, as they rapped again, this time much louder and with more force.

Spock opened the door, holding onto Bombay tighter so the cat wouldn’t try to escape.

There stood a man Spock did not know. He wore a fedora, which seemed odd. He grinned broadly.

“You have my cat!”