Stretching and leaning back in her chair, she was finally with scanner duty for the evening. Good god, how could sitting and listening to the police be so tiring. She could easily believe it was boring, and it frequently was, but how could she be exhausted as well. It boggled her mind.

Of course what was needed right now was some good old fashioned animal therapy. She'd done her duties for the day, Becca couldn't get grumpy with her for hogging Bijou now. All she had to do was find the little rascal, preferable before Astrid came back and the precious ball of fluff attached itself to her owner. The kitty had learned early that playing favourites with the family that fed her was a smart move.

Doing a complete lap of the base and ending up back in the scanner room, because of course Bijou had made her way in while Cait was looking for her, she scooped up the kitten for a much needed hug, she started to wonder how she was going to spend the next couple of hours before her job. Its not like there was anyone she could hang out with, thanks to the only other person present being stuck on the scanner. Unless, wasn't Mal free now?

Hunting around for wherever Becca had put his work hours for the week and seeing he was coming off shift.... right now!

Hey Mal! It's Cait from upstairs. I know we've not talked much but fancy hanging out upstairs?

If you do you even can touch the floof!

Mal was working his way through the end of a long shift. It was pretty late, and for a change he was actually pretty wired. It had been a pretty laid back day for once, only with the occasional spike of real activity going on. Of course his phone was residing in his locker in one of the employee areas whilst he worked, as he didn't really feel like getting into trouble the the hospital staff over something stupid.

And as the work day sometimes had a tendency to do so, ran over by about half an hour. Everything suddenly spiked in activity whilst his replacement was running late so he spent the last 10 minutes, and then another 30 afterwards of his working day going nuts. He sighed as his replacement walked in and apologised profusely for running over, offering a smile as he could tell the woman was feeling pretty embarrassed over the whole thing. 

He flicked open his locker and pulled out his things, getting changed into more comfortable clothes before seeing his phone was flashing, picking up he blinked. Had Dad finally gotten back to him? He was so busy these days it was hard to arrange a meeting. 

Nope, it was from... Cait? Who was Cait? He'd worked with a few of the people upstairs. Was she the one with wings? Oh... Was she the Scottish one? He shrugged, needing to de-stress and thinking that getting to know some of them when he wasn't stitching them up might be a decent idea. 

Re reading it he blinked. What did she mean touch the floof? Was that supposed to be some kind of inuendo? A game or an in joke? He supposed he'd find out soon enough. 

Hey, Sure. Could use it. 5 mins. 

Before he nipped to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich and munched it on his way upstairs, and keying his way in, looking around the office space. 

Quickly de-camping to the room they had devoted as a more communal relaxing area and closing off the doors to keep her little friend in, she brought out the toys they had stashed about. Playing with the precious little bundle of cute and feeling all her stresses melt away, she wonder if the doctor would really want to hang out. He had seemed nice enough whenever he was treating one of them.

No, chances are he was running late on his shift. Hospitals were always like that. Raine had spent more than enough time complaining about it and she was just a volunteer, what did the full time staff have to deal with? Well, it just gave her more time with Bijou.

The minutes started to blur, all of her attention being taken up with the rather obvious distraction. If her phone hadn't buzzed she would have completely forgotten about the good doctor and her offer of kitty goodness. Smiling down at the reply, she picked up the little jewel again, carrying her out towards where the stairs entered the base and waited for, what she hoped, was a brand new friend.

The two of them had only been waiting a couple of minutes when she heard the distant footsteps. Oh it was so exciting, she loved being able to get to know people. It was even better that doing so usually meant she had more people to hug.

Bijou began struggling in her arms, distracting her long enough to miss Mal coming through the door. Shocked out of her reverie, she smiled at the man now in the X-Base. "Hi Mal, thanks for coming to hang. I'm Cait, obviously." The movement in her arms reminded her of the other order of business. "Oh and this is Bijou. Want to stroke her?"

Malcom stretched his arms out when he walked up to the base, he knew that there was another staff member that saw to them, Juliette was her name, he was fairly certain. But he'd not interacted with her too much yet. There was so much going on at any given time in the building he felt like he didn't know nearly enough people there, hopefully that'd change soon.

The X-men were a force for good too, so he was happy to get to know them a little bit. He stifled a yawn as he walked into the room, seeing a cute redhead perky girl was always good for waking you up. Especially when they had seemingly as much energy as her. He offered her a worn, but still genuine smile as she noticed him. What was she holding was that a scarf or...

CAT!

He missed the pets he'd had with his mother as a child, and cats were always his favourite. In fact this one looked like a slightly malnourished kitten. A rescue pet? "Hi there Cait." The Brit responded before looking down at the bundle of fur and excitement in her arms. "And this must be said floof. Hello there little one~" He gently scratched it's ears.

Smiling back, she was glad she had picked Mal to ask. He certainly looked like he could do with a little R'n'R and what better way was there than entertaining a kitty? "Yes this is the floof. Astrid brought her back and Becca just couldn't say no."

"There's a little sitting area we have if you just follow me. Big comfy chairs and snacks galore." Which was half true. Their snack budget had been low recently thanks to new additions to the family. Cait had kept trying to sneak in new stuff for everyone, especially now that she knew how bad stuff was money wise, but Becca always caught her and scolded her for wasting money.

Setting off and assuming Mal would follow, because come on, what monster could resist a kitty cat, she kept Bijou from wriggling free before they got there. "You can hold her when we get there, if you'd like to. Just can't let the wee devil escape before then."

The sitting was, by far, her favourite room. More than one night had been spent here watching scary movies after a shift, or having a nice girly talk with Raine.

Unceremoniously flopping down onto one of the chairs, she left more than enough room if he wanted to sit next to her with Bijou. If not there was plenty of free spaces to sit, arranged in a nice ring after their last meeting. "Make yourself at home, anything on the coffee table is fair game." Hmm, maybe Mal would want what all British people needed after a long shift.

"What would you say, to a nice cup of tea?"

Cait was certainly friendly, that much was true. He studied her emotions as she lead him towards the sitting area. She was so... happy. It was kind of odd. The X-men lived in not the greatest conditions, and they had a very un-glamorous job and got very little in the way of thanks. They must be exhausted all the time, and keeping up with having jobs and doing the heroing at the same time must have been awful.

But she was so perky. It was interesting and confusing at the same time. As they walked into the place he shut the door behind them and followed her over to the sofa, sitting a reasonable amount apart as to not overheat either of them. He stretched out his arms and legs and stifled another yawn before lying back and immediately being set upon by a curious kitten, which immediately crawled up onto his legs and started sniffing around.

He chuckled and started to stroke it gently down it's length. He'd heard of animal empaths before, but his particular power didn't extend to those creatures. He was fairly sure he could tell what the kitten was thinking though, judging by the way it rolled over, purring and started attacking the hand playfully, pawing at his fingers and then grabbing one between two paws and chewing on it. It was truly heart melting to watch. 

"Awwwwwwww" His voice came out more highly pitched than intended. He cleared his throat and turned to the Scottish lass and nodded. "That would be lovely, thank you." 

Smiling warmly at the cute display in front of her, she slowly stood up and head over to the kettle. Good teabags were one of the few things they splashed out on, something the young Scot was grateful for. Her parents had instilled the love for a good cuppa in her from a young age, and Americans just couldn't not get it right.

Setting the water boiling she started to pull together the various little bits needed for a proper brew. "There any specific types you prefer? We've got a decent selection."

With the water boiled and teabags steeping, she looked over at her guest. Seeing how someone interacted with animals was always a good way to see a true side of their character and Mal was clearly under Bijou's spell. No one really stood a chance at this point, she had even managed to melt Becca's heart and stop Jules from kicking her out of the hospital.

"Do you take milk and sugar in yours?" Finishing up the mugs and adding more sugar than was really good for her, she brought the warm drinks over and set them down in front of their seating place, before curling back up on the sofa. Eyeing the blissful cat in the doctors lap a little jealously, she sipped at her drink and considered what she wanted to say.

"I know it's a bit odd for one of us to call you up here, but I figured you've patched us up enough that you should probably know more about us." Cait was tactful enough to not mention that her primary motivator had been boredom.

Malcom was thusfar enjoying her company, and the little tailed beast was quite enjoyable in it's own way. Sitting and gnawing on his fingers, occasionally releasing a sound akin to a mew. He smiled down at it and continued to scratch it's tummy, prompting more of the playful attack on his hand. He swiftly picked up on the little pang of jealousy from the Scot that was in the room with him. It wasn't surprising. 

"Milk and sugar please, Thanks." he responded with a bit of cheer. When she sat back down he flipped the kitten gently upside down and plopped it down in her lap. It rolled around hers still in the attack!play mode, radiating adorableness and melting the hearts of onlookers, as the little tailed beasts had a tendency to do. 

He chuckled at her comment and smiled knowingly. "Are you sure it didn't have anything to do with you being up here on your own, and possible boredom that could incur from that?~" He teased fairly obviously. 

He smiled again at the kitten and then took a sip of the tea, turning back to the red head. "I don't suppose I have to tell you that you'll need to make sure he stays in the upper levels and they are kept clean? You need to be careful about cross contamination and possible exposure to the other floors. Health and safety and all that."

Mal was the best person ever, if he willing gave up kitty snuggles for someone else. She didn't know if she was that strong herself she thought, while idly scratching Bijou's ears. She was just so cute! It was hard not to be in such a good mood when you had a kitty in your lap nibbling playfully at your fingers. Well, maybe Agnes could. She was grump incarnate after all.

Blushing at his teasing, she had to wonder if she was that transparent that he'd clocked it so quickly. "I'm sorry if it bothered you, I had about two hours to kill before I need to head off to work and....." trailing of awkwardly, she just hoped he wasn't upset about that. Some people had gotten mad at her in the past for this kind of thing. "With the only other person here being on scanner duty, it's just soooo boring. It was either spend time here or sit on uncomfortable bar stools and get hit on before we were up."

It was the one thing she disliked about what she did for a living. Playing live music was an awesome career, but sometimes members of the crowd got it into their head you were directing everything at them, that you had some sort of connection forged with cheap beer and pop music.

"Oh, yes, of course. We had the lecture from Juliette and we are super careful about her. Rooms are disinfected regularly, she has her fur brushed to keep any loose hairs getting out of hand and we've increased how often we switch out the vent filters." They were not about to but peoples health in danger for a pet they, in fairness, shouldn't be keeping here anyways.

"She's also received all her vaccinations and been given a clean bill of health." Best to just head of any follow up questions while she was at it. Mewling coming from her lap distracted her, looking down into the largest, greenest set of eyes in the world. No, she was here to stay, nothing could shift her now.

Mal smiled as he could feel her emotions warming to the situation. She was easy to please, it was funny. The fleeting impression's he'd had from the group were pretty mixed, but at the very least she seemed to be a bundle of happiness and sunshine. He couldn't see everything, given that he'd only just started hanging out with her, but he was fairly sure that this was a predominant emotional characteristic. 

He laughed quite heartily at her awkward barrage of comments. "No not at all, I only got it after I'd finished, ran over anyway, and I've got no problem socialising with somebody else from the isles, especially somebody who happens to come equipped with a ball of fluff" He teased. 

He smirked. "The trick is to find people to go out with where you can drink enough and mess around enough that you don't notice being hit on." He replied cheerily. 

There was that name again, Juliette. He really needed to actually get to know her. He nodded and laughed again, shaking his head gently. "Whoa whoa there Cait, calm down. I'm sure that you are all being very responsible about her, I was just making a comment." He grinned. "You don't need to worry about what I think just because I have a doctorate, you guys are pretty impressive as it is, you don't need too much lecturing I'm sure."

Grinning at his comments, she had to agree. Being able to talk with people from the same culture was always a pleasure, especially when you were surrounded by a one that was quite alien at times. "Can't say how much I agree. I've lived here most my life, yet somehow, they are still home." She had to agree with him on that point. Anyone who offered her fluffy snuggles was alright in her book.

"Oh, I love going out with friends and having fun. The flirting doesn't bother me much either, but if I'm trying to relax before work it kind of sucks." If she was trying to get in the zone, distractions really messed with her. Cait took her job very seriously and anything that affected that couldn't be tolerated.

She was glad that she had gauged him right, and that he was actually a nice guy. Bad people didn't deserve kitty love, it was just wasted on them. "If only the boss agreed with you. She takes her role as team mum a little seriously at times." Not that she'd change a thing about their fearless leader. "It doesn't help that her daughter is on the team. We all get mothered by proxy."

Thinking on it, how much did Mal know about them? "Is there anything specific you'd like to know about us? I can't exactly say everything, but there's a fair bit I can share considering what you already know." A wise set of bears had once said, sharing is caring.

Mal smirked more as he felt her emotions flittering around. It was always nice when you felt that some approved of or had taken a liking to you. Mal didn't very often find that people disliked him to be honest. He had quite the sense of humour, and had the advantage of using Empathy to dance around dodgier subjects and all that. On top of that his profession was pretty awesome, if on the whole exhausting. 

He nodded again. "I've only lived here since I was a teenager myself, but I do understand your meaning there." he'd not thought about life in the UK for quite some time, his residency at the hospital had kind of been all consuming in terms of focus and other thoughts. 

He really should give his mum a call when he got the chance, he kept up with her less than he kept up with his dad,  but he didn't keep up enough with her. His relationship with her was pretty good overall, she was a pretty cool parent.

He tilted his head at that comment and smiled taking another sip of tea. "Well you'll just have to keep her life lively then." Sometimes people needed reminding that they should do things to destress. Working in the environment which he did, this was obvious to him.

He grinned at her once again. "That's out of the blue, did you want me to get to know you better all of the a sudden?" He quirked an eyebrow. 

Nudging the cat back towards the doctor, she had to consider her answer to Mals' question. Certainly part of the reason she wanted him to get to know her, and by extension her getting to know him was she liked making friends. It might seem childish but wasn't the world just, nicer, when you got along with others.

The other part of it was that, by being in on their secret and by helping patch them up after injuries, he was kind of a part of the very strange family they had going here. It just felt weird that she had never actually bothered to get to know the man risking a lot by not telling the police about them. She hadn't failed to pick up on the innuendo though. She wasn't as innocent as some people believed.

Giving him a cheeky grin she started speaking, "Oh my doctor, so forward. Did you expect something else when the text said floof?" Her voice carried a joking tone as she continued, "I must say Becca is very protective of her strays."

"But seriously? You've helped us, stuck your neck out for all of us. We all appreciate it and I thought maybe you like to know more about us as people, rather than just what we do." She could understand if he didn't, or just wanted to relax after a long shift with some small talk and fluffiness. "That, and every time you've been up here you seemed like a nice guy."

"I figured maybe you'd be a laugh to just hang out with."

Mal smiled most innocently as he reached over to the curious kitten and began to scratch behind it's ears, eliciting more nuzzling and purrs from the small furry creature. He burst out laughing at her comment and shook his head with a large smile, a confused kitten batting at his fingers for more attention, whereby he gave it more and turned to her with another knowing smile. "Oh, well you can't fault me for thinking so with the rumours of your rambunctiousness around the staff~" 

He laughed again, it was a nice sound, very hearty. "I didn't really do anything I wouldn't do for anyone else, and I respect you guys. You know, people who tend to go into my profession don't tend to do it for the light hours or millions of dollars." He winked. Malcom genuinely got a kick out of helping people, especially with the empathy. 

He nodded more. "I'd certainly like to get to know you all more, if only to help you all relieve some stress. Let me tell you, I know a thing or two about high stress work environments." He chuckled again before grinning at her, finishing up his cup of tea. "The pretty Brits are a good bonus on top of that." he added, half joking, half flirtatiously. 

Rambunctious, her? What could possibly give him that idea. At all. Never mind her last training session and the damage she totally hadn't done to the floor. Or the very, very small fire she might have started once. Or twice.

He didn't give himself enough credit, not many people would do the same in his situation. Laughing and shaking her head, she was well aware of how bad hours could be. "I was under the impression it was all about the girls. Why else be a doctor if you can't see candy-stripers all day?" she replied with, enjoying a bit of friendly banter for once.

Stress relief was always good, especially for them and she had to agree with Mal, the pretty faces in the base weren't exactly unwelcome. Returning his joke with a grin, "I don't know, some of the Americans are charming, in their own way." Combatant could pull of a skin tight suit like nobody else.

It felt good to laugh, she'd needed it today. A long shift on the scanners followed by a full night playing was always tough but she wasn't exactly about to complain about work stress to a freaking doctor. She had some tact.

"Well I suppose I could start with something fun. Not many people can guess, but English isn't my first language." Not even the few Brits she had met had been able to guess at first.