Chapter Sixty
It took a little while, but I finally got back home and brought the little kittens into the kitchen and placed the box on the counter. I could hear them crying, I opened the box and looked inside to see the four little kittens pawing at each other and then trying to climb out of the box.

I sighed and then headed up the stairs and walked into Rebecca’s room and saw her sleeping on the bed. I felt bad for waking her up, but I needed her help. She was mad at me for waking her up, but she followed me into the kitchen and gasped when she heard the kittens.

“Where’d you find them?” she asked and then picked one of them up.

“When I was walking Duke, he got loose and I followed him and found him sniffing at the box,” I said and Rebecca placed the kitten back into the box.

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?” I asked and Rebecca sighed.

“Are we going to keep them?”

“Until we find them a home,” I said and then walked over towards my laptop that sat on the counter and opened it up, “Can you go grab some towels and throw them in the drier for a few minutes.”

“For what?”

“These kittens are probably freezing, plus their dirty, they need to be cleaned and warmed up,” I said and Rebecca nodded her head and walked away. I looked up information about what to do with these kittens, I sighed when I saw that there were a lot, ‘…I’m not prepared for this…’

I saw that there was a number and decided to call it, not knowing if there was going to be anyone there since it was Christmas Eve, well Christmas Day since it was after midnight. I was happy that someone was there, it sounded like an older woman.

“How can I help you?”

“Hi, um, I found four kittens in a box and I don’t know what to do,” I said and the woman sighed.

“How long had the kittens been in the box?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I was walking my dog and I found them,” I said and saw Rebecca walk into
the room with the towels and she brought in a big plastic container that we used to move into the condo, “I don’t know how old they are and they look pretty hungry. I’m pretty sure that I’ll have to bottle feed them, but I don’t have a bottle, or know what to feed them.”

“Well do you have a pet store-“

“I do, but it’s after midnight, I don’t think that they’ll be opened,” I said tiredly.

“You’re local Walmart will have it in the pet section,” she said and I sighed.

I spoke with the lady for almost forty five minutes, taking notes and printing things out about what I need to do to take care of these kittens. When I finally hung up with her, I looked toward Rebecca and said that I was going to run to the nearby Walmart for these supplies that were apparently there.

-Milan-
I was in the middle of sleeping, but I woke up to my phone ringing, ‘…Who the hell is calling me?...’ I thought and then looked to see that it was almost two in the morning. I sighed and then grabbed and saw that Alyssa was calling me. I sat up and grabbed it, afraid that something was wrong, “Hello?”

“Milan, I need your help, can you come over?” Alyssa asked.

“On my way,” I said and then hung up and jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothes.

I hurried to my car and then towards Alyssa’s apartment. I didn’t know what she needed help with, but I was going to help her in whatever way that I could.

It took a little while, but I made it to Alyssa’s place and knocked on the door. Rebecca answered it and I walked into the apartment and followed Rebecca into the kitchen to see Alyssa on the floor next to Tyler and they were both holding a kitten trying to feed them with a little bottle.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I walked over towards Alyssa, sat on the floor and leaned against the cabinet.

“I took Duke for a walk before I went to bed and we found these kittens. I called this lady and she told me what to do,” she said and then looked at me, “Just so you know, I’m never going to Walmart at one in the morning ever again!”

I chuckled watched as Alyssa handed me the grey kitten sucking on the bottle full of food. I sighed, realizing why I was called over here and took the kitten, cuddling it in my arms and started to feed him, ‘…I don’t even like cats…’

I watched as Alyssa grabbed another bottle and the last kitten, she smiled as the kitten attacked the bottle out of hunger. I heard her aw at the kitten and saw that he had placed his little paw on her hand.

“Have you fallen asleep yet?” I asked and Alyssa looked at me and shook her head, “Has your father woken up?”

“No not yet,” she said and I nodded my head and looked down at the kitten.

-Alyssa-
“Alyssa, this is very good,” Tammy said as she looked at me and smiled.

“Thanks,” I smiled and took a bite of the food.

“So when did you get cats?” Nathan asked as you could hear the kittens crying.

“Last night, Duke and I were walking and I found them,” I said and Nathan looked over towards the box that Dylan was looking into.

“Careful, Dylan,” Nathan said and I stood up and walked over towards them and bent down.

“Auntie, can I have a kitten?” he asked and I giggled and heard Nathan sigh. I picked the on kitten up and placed it in my lap. Dylan started to pet his head and watched as the little kitten wanted to run around, “Auntie?”

“How ‘bout you ask your dad?” I said and Dylan whipped around and ran over towards Nathan.

“Daddy?!”

“We’ll think about it,” Nathan said and Dylan walked over towards me with a pout on his face.

“I have to take them to the doctor and make sure that they’re healthy before I even think about giving them away,” I said to Dylan and he sighed and nodded his head, “Come on buddy, how ‘bout we let them sleep and we’ll finish our dinner.”

“But they don’t look tired,” he said and I placed the cat back into the plastic box and picked Dylan up.

“Well then, how ‘bout you help me feed them after dinner?” I asked and he smiled brightly and nodded his head, “That’s my buddy.”

I gave Dylan back to Nathan and then moved back over towards my seat and felt Milan place his hand on my thigh. Dad was smiling at me and I blushed and went back to eating my food.
Milan ended up spending the night since we didn’t go to bed until four in the morning, I had the kittens in my room, and they started to cry again around seven in the morning. Milan and I fed them again and I ended up staying up to get the house ready for Brad, Nathan, Tammy, Dylan and Zachary coming over later. Tyler ended up staying over as well last night.

My dad had shown up two days ago, the day he showed up, he made Rebecca and I go to the holiday store to grab some decorations and then helped put them up. Since I was the only one awake, I walked over towards the closet in the hallway that I had hid all of the presents in and carried them over towards the tree.

I wasn’t able to get a lot of sleep because of the kittens, but I was surrounded by friends and family, so I was happy. After dinner, Tammy and I were doing the dishes while the guys were in the living room watching something and Rebecca was in her room getting ready to head over to Tyler’s place to meet his family.

“So where’s your dog?” Tammy asked.

“In my room, I don’t want him bumping into Dylan and then bothering Zachary,” I said and Tammy smiled towards me.

“You’re going to be a wonderful mother someday,” she said and I smiled brightly.

After dishes we all gathered around the Christmas tree and decided that we were going to open presents. Rebecca and I got my dad a new car because he needed one, granted I mostly paid for it, but I placed Rebecca’s name on the card. The car was paid for, but he needed to go and pick it up at the car lot. I got Brad an Airbourne t-shirt and then wrapped inside was a ticket to one of their concerts that was next weekend in New York.

“Oh my god, AJ!!! I can’t wait to see them!!!” he said and I smiled and nodded my head.

“You and me, Marshy, we haven’t done anything together since we were kids,” I said and he smiled and nodded his head.

I got Rebecca some clothes, Tyler just some gift cards because he was really hard to shop for. Nathan got some candy that’s only found in DC and then some giftcards. Tammy got a day at the spa with me. Dylan got some toys and baby Zachary got a custom onesie that said ‘My Auntie is Awesome’. Milan was the last one to open his gift from me, I got him and engrave glass picture frame with a picture of us from when we went on vacation this past summer.
By the time everyone had opened all of their presents, I found that I had gotten mostly giftcards, but some gag gifts and then a charm bracelet from Milan. I threw out all of the wrapping paper and just when I was about to go into the kitchen and get dessert, Brad called my name.

“There’s one more present,” Brad said and I looked at him confused as he pulled out a medium sized box.

“What is it?” I asked as I walked over towards him and took the box from his hands and sat on the couch.

“Just open it,” he said and I sighed and nodded my head.

Milan handed me the knife that we were using to open the boxes and I sighed when there was only bubble wrap on the top, “And saving that for later,” I muttered, hearing people chuckle. I pulled the bubble wrap off and looked to see that there was, what looked to be a picture frame, but the back was facing me. There was a card on top and I sighed and picked up the card and looked at it.

It was a note from Sidney Crosby himself, he was wishing me Merry Christmas and telling me that I was a good player and a value to the NHL. He told me that he was happy for my success and that there was another person that was happy for me as well. I placed the letter on the couch and then picked up the picture frame. I gasped and almost dropped it when I saw that it was a picture of the player that I looked up to, Wayne Gretzky. I smiled brightly and saw that it was the picture of him winning his last cup in 1988 with the Edmonton Oilers. On the bottom corner was a note on the picture from Wayne himself, he was telling me almost the same thing that Sidney did and I could feel my eyes watering up because this was such an amazing gift.

“What is it?” the guys asked and I handed it over and watched as the guys smiled.

“I’m gunna kill him,” I laughed as I wiped my eyes and pulled off my phone.

“From Crosby?” Brad asked and I nodded my head, “He had it mailed to my place last week.”

“He’s always full of surprises,” I said and then dialed Sidney’s numbers and walked towards the kitchen. I wanted to thank him and yell at him for the gift.