It's Steve that does it. Russell wants to howl with laughter and for a second it bubbles up inside him so violently that he ends up coughing desperately to cover it, waving his hand when Diane looks at him in concern. Fucking Steve. All these ridiculous cat names and then that. Of course, Steve is probably what Russell would name a cat if he ever got one, but he just can't deal with it in the midst of all these other names and so he lets himself cough for a few seconds longer, knowing if he doesn't just ride this whole thing out as a fit of allergies or something, he's going to end up laughing and that won't do anyone any good. Diane will be sure to call the station and Russell will never hear the end of it, because no matter how absurd the situation is, it's up to him to treat it with respect.

"I'm okay," he says. "I'm okay, it's just allergies, that's all. Cats get my throat all itchy." He's not sure if that's how allergies work, given that he's not actually allergic to anything, but he feels like it's more or less the only thing he can use as an excuse in a moment like this.

"Do you need some water or anything?" Diane asks and she's so nice about it that it almost sobers Russell completely. Clearly she's a kind woman who just really loves her job and really loves cats and it's a shitty thing to make fun of her at all. Even if the names she chose are the strangest collection of names he's ever seen.

"No, really, I'm okay," he says, looking at her seriously. "Doctor Reid and I, we'll just take a look at the cats like he's suggested. You don't gotta worry about a thing. I might just be a regular old cop, but Reid here is brilliant. He'll get to the bottom of this and we'll make sure everything is taken care of." He might be over-promising a little, but he's pretty sure Reid actually will figure it out and long before he ever manages to wrap his head around it, so he's not actually all that worried about it.

"They're right through here," she says, leading them back out of the office. "I'll show you."