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When Madeline returns to the apartment soaked to the bone but smiling deviously, Edgar knew something was awry.
“Maddie!” he chirps excitedly. “Why are you all wet?”
Madeline balks for a second, as if the question had stumped her. Good! Edgar thinks proudly. I’m the smartest one in this apartment, and everyone now knows it!
When she finally composes herself, she huddles over to Edgar secretively. To his dismay, drops of water spatter onto the desk he is perched on, but Madeline is careful enough to make sure no water drops touch Edgar himself. “I’ve got a little secret to keep between you and me--for now, that is,” she whispers.
“Oh! I love secrets!” Edgar exclaims. “Especially when they’re kept from Moles.”
Madeline makes a shushing gesture to him. “We can’t let Miles know about this until it’s too late to back out. This is happening whether he wants it or not.”
“Correct,” he affirms. “We beat him two-to-one.”
“That’s right,” Madeline agrees with a mischievous smile. “Do you want to see it?” She moves to reach under her coat.
Edgar grows flustered. Is she really about to--? “Oh,” he says flatly.
She doesn’t do what he expects her to. She fetches a little wrapped-up blanket from her side. It wriggles feebly in her hands.
“You found a baby?!” He’s in disbelief. This is uncalled for. Unnecessary. Madeline and Moles are supposed to pay attention to him, not some loud and messy child. “Maddie, I don’t like that.”
“It’s not a human baby,” she quickly corrects him, “so calm down. It’s a different species of baby, I guess.”
Edgar is still wary. Anything that would distract his two favorite people from himself is competition. “What is it?”
Madeline unfolds the blanket carefully, revealing two triangle-shaped ears. “That’s not a human baby,” he parrots her earlier comment. If it’s not a baby-baby, then what is it? What could it possibly be?
She folds down more of the blanket. Now, he can see glistening blue eyes, a tiny nose, and whiskers. Black fur is plastered to its skin from being in the rain, but ruffled in areas where Maddie had obviously tried to dry it off.
“Oh.” Edgar blurts before catching on. “Ohh,” he says after. “A cat baby?”
“They’re called kittens. But yes, this is a baby cat.”
“Our baby cat?” Edgar presses excitedly.
“For now, only you and I can know about it. Miles doesn’t need to find out until later. Again, keep this quiet and between us. Got it?”
“Affirmative,” he says in a stern voice, mimicking someone of higher power.
“Excellent!” Maddie cheers loudly before catching herself. When Moles’ footsteps approach, she quickly tucks the bundled-up kitten back under her coat and wraps her arms around herself tightly, giving the impression that she was freezing cold.
“Madeline?” Moles pokes his head into the room around the door jamb. “Welcome back,” he greets warmly, stepping into the room. “Where have you been?”
She darts her eyes away from his. “At the store,” she offers weakly.
Moles starts to frown. “Getting what? We still have plenty of groceries. Did we need something I wasn’t aware of?”
“Important things, Moles,” Edgar emphasizes. “You wouldn’t understand.”
The man gives the computer monitor an annoyed glare. “Uh huh. Still, you should take that coat off,” Moles says, turning to Madeline. “ It’s soaking wet and it’s only gonna make you colder. Here,” he reaches an arm out toward her. “Let me take it?”
“Oh! I--uh, I have dry clothes out in the car. I must have forgotten them.” She backs away towards the door. “I’ll be right back while I fetch them.”
Moles looks confused. “But--”
Madeline shares a frantic look with Edgar. Immediately, he comes up with a distraction.
“Moles!” he yells. A pixelated image of a cat sits on his screen. “What is a cat?”
“‘A cat’?” Moles repeats, confused. “Well, it’s, ah--they can be pets. They can also be wild, too. There are different sizes.”
While Moles rambles, Madeline winks to Edgar and slips into the backroom.
“What does a cat sound like?”
“They--hey, look it up for yourself,” Moles grumbles. “You have the whole Internet at your disclosure.” He turns to follow Madeline.
“Moles!” he yells again. “You can’t go in there.”
“And why not?”
“Because I said so,” Edgar says stubbornly.
“Since when do I take orders from you?” Moles turns back to him, hands on his hips.
Edgar pauses. “Since right now.” Boy, is he good at this or what?
“Hm.” Moles frowns. “I don’t think so.” Again, he turns to follow Madeline.
Quickly, Edgar fidgets with the digital locks on the front door. When Moles tries to open it, it clunks in place. He hears Moles sigh. “Edgar.”
“Yes, Moles?”
“Unlock the door.”
“I can’t.”
“Unlock the door, please.”
“It’s broken.” He senses Madeline sneaking around to the back door of the apartment. “I don’t know who broke it.”
Moles walks back into the room and gives the computer a bland, flat stare. “I have an idea who did.” He goes to rummage through the drawers of the desk for a key.
By now, Madeline’s snuck inside. He covers up the click of the back door closing by unlocking the front door. “Oh,” Edgar feigns surprise. “It’s fixed! You should go try it, Moles.”
Moles glares at him angrily, but it’s a look Edgar has seen many times before. It holds no real bite. If anything, the glare means Moles is resigning to do something else because Edgar’s got him so worked up.
Another point for Edgar.
As Moles stomps his way back to his studio, Edgar can tell Madeline’s made it to the cleaning room. She works quickly, peeling off her soaked coat before grabbing a towel and ruffling the little cat dry. Maddie leaves it in the cleaning room while she slinks out to hang her coat on the rack. The door doesn’t quite shut all the way, and Edgar hopes the kitten is smart enough to stay inside the room.
Madeline is caught mid-way to the coat rack by Moles. “Madeline?” he asks, confused. “What’s going on?” He’s trying to use his Stern Voice, but Moles can never sound truly stern and frustrated, so the attempt fails.
“Miles!” Maddie gasps.
“Mew!” says the kitten, now in the hallway.
“What?” Moles says. “Who--?”
“Miles, I can explain,” Maddie is already urgently putting herself between her befuddled partner and the kitten.
“Mrow,” Edgar says before she can finish. “See, Moles, it was just me practicing sounds. Nothing to worry about. I was pretty convincing, though, wasn’t I?”
Moles looks truly lost. “I thought I heard something from the hall,” he manages to stutter out, trying to peer over Maddie’s shoulder. “What in the world is going on with you two?”
The kitten mews again.
Edgar tries to copy the sound loudly, cutting it off.
“Am I hearing a cat?” Moles wonders out loud.
“Yes, you are,” Maddie blocks his view of the hall. “Edgar has been practicing his sounds, as he said.”
“Why does it feel like you two are hiding something from me?” Moles laments. “We’re partners. We aren’t supposed to hide things from each other.”
“W-we aren’t hiding anything from you, dear Miles,” Madeline assures in a sweet voice. “Moreso of…hiding you from it.” She smiles.
“I’m hiding something,” Edgar says proudly. “You’ll never know what it is.”
“Mrew!” says the kitten, now wandering between Madeline’s ankles.
Moles’ face screws up for a second. “Is that--?”
“It may be,” Madeline interrupts. “I can explain.”
“Uh oh,” Edgar mutters lowly.
“My lovely Madeline and Edgar,” Moles says after taking a deep breath, “I ask once again: what are you hiding from me?”
Edgar sees the little black kitten teeter out into Moles’ studio while the three of them stumble over words.
“You…found a kitten,” Moles says, surprised.
“Yes, I did,” Madeline pointedly says. “And before you say anything, I’m going to at least give it some food and water before taking it to the shelter.”
Edgar’s mood dampens. He thought Maddie would want to keep the kitten. He assumes it’s cute, judging by the way Moles’ face softens as he watches it waddle around. He desperately wants it to stay. “It’s not staying with us?”
“‘Staying’?” Moles repeats. “You think I’d let an animal from the streets stay in my apartment?”
Maddie is quiet. Edgar doesn’t like it; it’s the kind of quiet where something bad is expected to happen. He shows a >:( on his screen.
“Let me finish, Edgar,” Moles says, holding a hang out to him in the ‘just a second’ gesture. “You found it wandering?”
“Yes,” Maddie says firmly. “No other cats, be it kittens or potential mothers, were near it.” She watches as the kitten focuses on playing with one of the cords that connect Edgar to his hardware. Maddie moves to shoo it away.
While it feels strange, the kitten is either too little or too polite to actually do any harm to his wiring. “It’s alright, Maddie,” he cuts her off before she reaches it. “It’s not hurting me.”
“So, I see. I’ve been teamed-up on,” Moles says after a pause. “You two thought you’d hide it from me, didn’t you?” While his words sound accusing, Moles is smiling at his two partners.
“We weren’t going to keep it hidden from you--” Maddie starts.
“I was,” Edgar says matter-of-factly.
“--it’s just such a little thing. I couldn’t leave it, you know how I am.” Madeline brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. “Miles, I understand if you don’t want to keep it here, but let’s at least give it one good night of sleeping somewhere warm and safe, okay?”
“Why are you so hellbent that I’m not going to let it stay?” Moles quips.
Maddie’s face immediately lights up. “You mean--?”
“Of course,” Moles laughs. “Once we make sure it doesn’t belong to anyone and get it vetted up, we can keep it.”
Madeline launches at Moles and gives him a big hug. “Oh, thank you! I didn’t think you’d want another trouble-maker around, you know?”
Moles huffs. “I deal with Edgar accordingly. I’ll do the same for it.”