(no subject)

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy and Helen step out of the phone box into a street in Holby. It's cloudy, and looks a little like rain. Passers-by push past, in a hurry, without caring if they barge into anyone. There is a gloom about the place.

Guppy smiles at Helen.

"Welcome to Holby."

Comments

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen waves to the kennel hand. "Can we try Nala-" she points to the dog, "with the kitten please?" She grins brightly.

[guppy_sandhu]

"Yeah, sure."

He goes over to the pen and puts Nala on a lead, then hands the lead to Helen.

"If you could step through into that room there, I'll go and get the kitten."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen takes the lead, then smiles brightly at Nala, offering her a hand to smell. After Nala licks her hand, Helen pets her behind the ears, stands up and says, "Come on, Nala," rather cheerfully. Nala bounces in front of Helen as she heads to the room the kennel hand pointed to. Helen turns to look at Guppy. "You come too!" she says, giggling.

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy grins and follows, jumping as an extremely large Alsation jumps up and barks at him from one of the cages. The room is full of dog and cat toys, with a couple of comfy chairs. A few moments later the kennel hand comes back with the kitten and places it on the floor.

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen keeps Nala on the lead for the moment, as the kitten is placed on the floor. The kitten meows questioningly at Nala, who sniffs it enthusiastically. The kitten is unfazed by the sniffing and begins playing with a cat toy. Eventually, she begins to sniff Nala and tries to pounce on the puppy's tail. Nala jumps up and does the ever popular "play with me!" motion, which the kitten seems to understand.

Helen laughs at the animals, then grins at Guppy. "I think they'll get along just fine!"

[guppy_sandhu]

"Good. Have you decided then?" Guppy asks, smiling at the animals at play. They seem well suited to one another, and to Helen.

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen grins bright. "I think I have." She turns to the kennel hand. "I think I'll take both of them, if that is alright," she says, beaming.

[guppy_sandhu]

The kennel hand nods and smiles.

"Certainly. I'll just put the kitten in a carrier for you and then we'll go through the paperwork."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen smiles brightly. "Thank you very much." She grins at Guppy. "Thank you!"

[guppy_sandhu]

"That's okay. I'm glad you found what you were looking for."

He passes Helen Nala's lead and holds her other hand as the kitten reluctantly goes into a cat box. Then the kennel hand comes back with a load of paperwork. Guppy gives him his address, feeling that giving him Helen's would be tricky. The kennel hand then gives Helen the forms to sign.

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen shrugs and signs the forms "Helen Sandhu" in nice script. She passes the forms back to the kennel hand, and pets Nala's head.

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy goes bright red and fiddles with his hair when he sees the forms. Then he takes Helen's hand and smiles.

"Shall we get home then? We can pass the pet shop to get some dog and cat food."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen grins, and squeezes his hand.

"I think that would be a good idea." She laughs as Nala licks her hand.

She stands up, Nala bouncing alongside her, and hangs Guppy the cat carrier. "Shall we?"

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy smiles and holds open the door for Helen. As they go out of the shelter he glances at his watch.

"Scampi needs feeding soon, and the portal back will be at my house anyway, so we should head there. Will Nala be okay to walk that far? We can stop by the pet shop for you to get any essentials you need."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen grins. "Alright. Nala will be fine. She's bouncy, but she doesn't pull hard. Anyway, I'm used to walking." From inside the cat carrier, the kitten meows. "I think I'll name her Elena." Helen says, thoughtfully, taking Guppy's free hand in hers.

[guppy_sandhu]

"That's a nice name. Goes well with Nala. And Helen."

He leads her through the streets of Holby. It begins to get busier again, and a few spots of rain start to fall. Guppy wishes he brought his umbrella.

"Quick, here's the pet shop. We can shelter from the rain."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

"And Melina," Helen reminds him. "Don't forget her."

As the rain starts up, Helen pushes open the door of the pet shop, dragging Nala with her.

[guppy_sandhu]

"Sorry, wasn't thinking."

He rubs his forehead, his brain starting to feel fuzzy. He has, after all, just come off a twelve hour shift.

"Just pop what you need in the basket; don't worry about money, I'll deal with that. I'm just going to get some kitten food for Scampi. He's starting solids on Friday."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen grabs some wet kitten food in many different fishy flavors, and dry kitten food, also in fishy flavors. She finds puppy food, which Nala sniffs happily, and puts that in the basket too. Hefting the now rather heavy basket, she gets some kitten and puppy toys and a new, higher quality leash as well as a dog bed for Nala and a cat bed for Elena. Pulled by Nala, she finally manages to find Guppy. "Ready to go?"

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy has been debating what flavour of kitten food Scampi would most like, and has chosen a chicken one. He smiles and takes the basket off Helen.

"Yes, I'll just go and pay for these and then we can go."

He nips over to the checkout and deposits the heavy basket, juggling that and the kitten so that he can get his wallet. Then he passes the lighter of the shopping bags to Helen and, with some difficulty, holds the door open for her.

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, dear." Helen grins, exits the pet shop, pulled by Nala, who is trying to dig her nose into the bag, and takes his hand. It's raining a bit harder now, but Helen doesn't care. She's used to it. "So, where are we going?" she asks Guppy.

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy smiles. "This way. It's a ten minute walk. Is that okay? I can get a taxi if there's too much to carry."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen grins. "No, it's fine." She pulls the bag out of Nala's reach. "No." she tells Nala firmly. "This is going to be fun." she grins. "So, do your housemates know of me yet, or do I need to keep up my story of taking care of young children all day?"

[guppy_sandhu]

"Abs knows who you are and where you're from, Nina just knows your name. She doesn't know about the bar, whereas Abs has been in it a few times. So if we see her, yes, I will need you to keep that little act up. Off-hand I don't think she'll be in, because I don't think her shift finishes until four."

They are coming into a more residential part of Holby now, away from the city centre. Guppy carefully avoids the particularly rough areas. Eventually they come back to the hospital where they started, but this time Guppy takes a left rather than a right. As they walk down the road Guppy points out a park on the right.

"That's where I rescued Scampi. I would show you but I really ought to get back to feed him soon."

[prettyhelen.livejournal.com]

Helen smiles brightly. "Alright." She gazes at the park. "Pretty..." she remarks, guiding Nala away from the little animals running around in the park. She feels like the luckiest girl in the world right now, and anyone looking at her could probably tell.