[He's wrestling with something in the car. Made him accidentally hit a bunch of keys on his device and hit send while he was attempting to reply to Ellie.]
[Yeah. That's because of the thing he's wrestling with. He doesn't respond to Ellie because of that, too.
He locks up the car and jangles the keys to pick out the house key, and he enters the building and takes the stairs two at a time. When he reaches the front door, he unlocks it and he hopes to hell Ellie is still in their room.
He steps inside, closes the door behind him, and walks quietly towards the bedroom. He comes to a stop just before beyond the door where Ellie can't see him - and sets a wriggly puppy down on the floor, which goes bounding and scampering excitedly into their bedroom with her tongue lolling out.]
[Ellie is dramatically sprawled out on the bed on her back. A few DVDs are scattered on her (EMPTY) belly and next to her. It was too much. There are still so many movies they have to get through, and Ellie can't think on an empty stomach. She just wants food.
Food sounds moments away when she hears the front front door. And then soon to follow is their door. She hears it squeak, and when she looks over that way, she sees... nothing.]
Hey, what's ta--[Her question is cut off by a shriek as a mass of fluff hops onto her face and starts attacking her with its tongue.]
[And with that, Joel stands tall and steps into view, standing in the doorway watching the dog making a bounding, scrabbling leap with curious excitement at Ellie on the bed. Her hind legs wiggle and scramble for purchase before she manages to climb up on Ellie, and Joel crosses his arms and leans a shoulder against the door frame. He's looking mighty pleased with himself.]
Ohmyfuh--[There's some sort of swearing going on, but Ellie's squealing and wiggling around just as much as the puppy. There's fur in her mouth and those little puppy paws hurt a but, but holy fucking shit there is a puppy on her and Joel's a sneaky bastard. After some high, squeaky noises from Ellie and a bit of wrestling, she manages to sit up with the puppy in her lap, hair nearly out of her ponytail and going this way and that.]
Ohmygod.
[The puppy squirms in her lap and tries to get at her face, but Ellie just holds her to get a good look at her. She's adorable. And she's... theirs? Of course she is. She wraps her arms around the dog and clutches her to her chest.]
[If getting this puppy is worth anything, it's worth seeing the way Ellie reacts to it. The way she squeals in surprised delight, the way she grappling with excitement with the puppy, the way she looks so damn shocked and yet delighted and yet without words.
It's a moment he's never going to forget, that's for damn sure. Christ, he can even feel an unnameable well of something warm and fond building in his chest. It shows in the way he's trying not to affectionately smile as the dog snuffles and nudges and licks at Ellie's face with adoring happiness.]
Wha--what are you doing, that tickles! [She laughs and ruffles the dog's fur like any fourteen year old would do. The fact that she grew up in a world full of infection and fear and death doesn't mean a damn thing right now. What she's done doesn't matter. It's impossible to let the darkness ruin a moment like this.
She grabs the little puppy paws in her hands and laughs some more as the dog flops over onto her back.]
[Yeah, he thought this was happening after they moved, too, but impulse had gotten the better of him. Something he wanted to do to brighten Ellie's day, something to make the darker things they have wound up talking about lately seem further away.
The puppy yaps excitedly before suddenly losing her footing and sliding off the bed in a clumsy heap with a thump to the floor. Joel instinctively pushes away from the door frame, a little startled, but the dog is fine - she scrambles back to her feet and after yapping again, she makes a beeline for him, tongue hanging out happily, and jumps up with her paws clawing playfully at his jeans.]
You dumb dog. [Said affectionately. He reaches down and gives her a scratch behind the ears, then crouches down to pet her and he has to crane his head away from the way she's jumping up, trying to lick his face.]
[It's cute. Ellie perches on the edge of the bed and just watches Joel with the puppy for a little while despite wanting to cuddle her herself. Joel, who can kill men with his bare hands, petting an adorable little puppy.]
I think she likes you more.
[Not a bad thing. Ellie can see why. And, since Joel is at a convenient level, she decides to act fast and catch him off guard with a hug, arms around his neck. It's a little awkward because she's never hugged him like this before--he's too tall most days--but that doesn't diminish the affection behind it.]
[The dog is now chewing on his fingers and it's because he's trying to get her to stop that, that he doesn't notice Ellie flying at him with a hug that very nearly bowls him over.]
Whoa, kiddo.
[He grabs a hold of the door frame with his hand before losing his balance, but the moment he's corrected himself he sinks into the tight, unfamiliar warmth of Ellie's arms holding him so fiercely. He rests his weight down on one knee while an arm comes up to wrap around her middle, holding her to him just as tightly with his chin resting up on her shoulder. The dog is still trying to nip at his other hand.
When the hug comes to a natural end, he pulls back and looks up at Ellie from where he's crouching. He lets her go around the waist to reach up and push her messied hair hanging mostly out of its ponytail away from her face.
It's a you're welcome said louder than words could ever really say.]
[She doesn't know how else to express how thankful she really is. Words seem weak and words have never been her forte, so she lets the hug convey how happy she is. It's almost too much to really process. The little puppy bouncing around doesn't seem real, even when her paws snag on Ellie's shirt.
Ellie tilts her head into his hand slightly, giving him a vaguely watery smile. Now is so not the time to cry like a little kid.]
[Aww hell, no, don't cry, Ellie. Joel can see the wateriness in her eyes, and he holds her cheek in his hand and give it a reassuring stroke with his thumb. He drops his hand away and looks down at the dog really trying to bite into his fingers. She's teething. Damn it, he's going to have to watch she doesn't start chewing the hell out of everything.]
C'mere, you. [He scoops the dog up and props her on his knee, and briefly holds her snout in effort to make her stop biting. It doesn't work: she just paws at his hand and tries even harder to playfully bite him.
He glances back up to Ellie.] Still tryin'a decide between Lucy or Molly.
[Kind of letting Ellie have the final say on the name of the dog, even if he's picked the names.]
[This puppy is too cute. It's a good excuse to not look at Joel for a little bit, let the stinging in her eyes fade away. She rubs the puppy's ears, then goes back to playing with her paws. Puppy paws are cute as fuck.]
[Anchoring his broad hand under the dog's chest, he lifts her and turns her around to make her look at him. She lets out a playful yap, then suddenly yawns big and wide, punctuated with a groaning whine and a shake of her head at the end of it.
He's hoping focusing on the dog will help Ellie not cry. He's very rarely seen her cry but he hates it when she does. Makes him feel nervous and worried, like he's gotta somehow fix things and make them better and usually has no idea how to go about it other than to tell her to just push past it.]
Yeah, reckon you might be right. She looks like a Lucy.
[He uses the opportunity to hand the dog over to Ellie. He makes sure Ellie's got a hold of the dog - Lucy - and then pushes himself up with a quiet grunt, standing tall.]
I gotta head on out back to the car, grab a few things that I bought while I was out. How 'bout you take her out to the grassy area out back? She's a puppy, so she's gonna pee a lot. Gonna have to keep an eye on that.
Uh huh. Okay. [Ellie just heard something about going out to the grass, so she very carefully gets up, Lucy in her arms. It's a little difficult when she keeps licking her, but it's manageable.]
[He lets Ellie lead the way to the door, stretching an arm past her to open the door when they reach it. The dog is wriggling and squirming about but it's obvious she's starting to tire - she doesn't seem as energetic as she was five or so minutes ago.]
I'll be out back in a minute, alright? Just keep an eye on her, don't let her go runnin' off.
[Joel makes his way down the stairs out to the car, where he grabs out some bags of puppy food, a dog bed, a few chew toys, a couple of dog bowls... He went all out, making sure they have the essentials. When he returns upstairs, he dumps everything in the middle of their bedroom for now to be sorted out a bit later, and he grabs up a stiff tug rope toy to take down with him out the back.
Once he's back downstairs, he pushes open the back door and strolls out, clutching the toy in his hands, and he silently watches Ellie and the dog from where he's standing.]
[By the time Joel comes back, Ellie is sitting on the grass with the puppy fast asleep on her lap. There's the urge to wake her up, play with her, but Ellie resists and lets her rest. When she sees Joel approaching, she lifts a finger to her lips and points down at Lucy.
[There's a small quirk of his lips at Ellie shushing him and pointing to the sleeping dog. Coming to a stop in front of Ellie, he crouches down, clutching the rope toy loosely between his knees, and he studies the sleeping puppy for a couple of moments.
He turns his eyes on Ellie.]
Saw an ad in the newspaper when I was down the coffee shop this morning that there were puppies for sale. Decided I had to at least go and check it out.
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wait for me in our room ok i'll be in in a minute
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[He's wrestling with something in the car. Made him accidentally hit a bunch of keys on his device and hit send while he was attempting to reply to Ellie.]
damn it dropped the device
be right up
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He locks up the car and jangles the keys to pick out the house key, and he enters the building and takes the stairs two at a time. When he reaches the front door, he unlocks it and he hopes to hell Ellie is still in their room.
He steps inside, closes the door behind him, and walks quietly towards the bedroom. He comes to a stop just before beyond the door where Ellie can't see him - and sets a wriggly puppy down on the floor, which goes bounding and scampering excitedly into their bedroom with her tongue lolling out.]
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Food sounds moments away when she hears the front front door. And then soon to follow is their door. She hears it squeak, and when she looks over that way, she sees... nothing.]
Hey, what's ta--[Her question is cut off by a shriek as a mass of fluff hops onto her face and starts attacking her with its tongue.]
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Surprise, kiddo.
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Ohmygod.
[The puppy squirms in her lap and tries to get at her face, but Ellie just holds her to get a good look at her. She's adorable. And she's... theirs? Of course she is. She wraps her arms around the dog and clutches her to her chest.]
Where did--when--?
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It's a moment he's never going to forget, that's for damn sure. Christ, he can even feel an unnameable well of something warm and fond building in his chest. It shows in the way he's trying not to affectionately smile as the dog snuffles and nudges and licks at Ellie's face with adoring happiness.]
She likes you already.
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She grabs the little puppy paws in her hands and laughs some more as the dog flops over onto her back.]
I thought this was happening after we move, Joel!
[Not that she's disappointed.]
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[Yeah, he thought this was happening after they moved, too, but impulse had gotten the better of him. Something he wanted to do to brighten Ellie's day, something to make the darker things they have wound up talking about lately seem further away.
The puppy yaps excitedly before suddenly losing her footing and sliding off the bed in a clumsy heap with a thump to the floor. Joel instinctively pushes away from the door frame, a little startled, but the dog is fine - she scrambles back to her feet and after yapping again, she makes a beeline for him, tongue hanging out happily, and jumps up with her paws clawing playfully at his jeans.]
You dumb dog. [Said affectionately. He reaches down and gives her a scratch behind the ears, then crouches down to pet her and he has to crane his head away from the way she's jumping up, trying to lick his face.]
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I think she likes you more.
[Not a bad thing. Ellie can see why. And, since Joel is at a convenient level, she decides to act fast and catch him off guard with a hug, arms around his neck. It's a little awkward because she's never hugged him like this before--he's too tall most days--but that doesn't diminish the affection behind it.]
Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.
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Whoa, kiddo.
[He grabs a hold of the door frame with his hand before losing his balance, but the moment he's corrected himself he sinks into the tight, unfamiliar warmth of Ellie's arms holding him so fiercely. He rests his weight down on one knee while an arm comes up to wrap around her middle, holding her to him just as tightly with his chin resting up on her shoulder. The dog is still trying to nip at his other hand.
When the hug comes to a natural end, he pulls back and looks up at Ellie from where he's crouching. He lets her go around the waist to reach up and push her messied hair hanging mostly out of its ponytail away from her face.
It's a you're welcome said louder than words could ever really say.]
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Ellie tilts her head into his hand slightly, giving him a vaguely watery smile. Now is so not the time to cry like a little kid.]
What's her name?
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C'mere, you. [He scoops the dog up and props her on his knee, and briefly holds her snout in effort to make her stop biting. It doesn't work: she just paws at his hand and tries even harder to playfully bite him.
He glances back up to Ellie.] Still tryin'a decide between Lucy or Molly.
[Kind of letting Ellie have the final say on the name of the dog, even if he's picked the names.]
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I think I like Lucy. She looks like a Lucy.
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[Anchoring his broad hand under the dog's chest, he lifts her and turns her around to make her look at him. She lets out a playful yap, then suddenly yawns big and wide, punctuated with a groaning whine and a shake of her head at the end of it.
He's hoping focusing on the dog will help Ellie not cry. He's very rarely seen her cry but he hates it when she does. Makes him feel nervous and worried, like he's gotta somehow fix things and make them better and usually has no idea how to go about it other than to tell her to just push past it.]
Yeah, reckon you might be right. She looks like a Lucy.
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[It's not a bad place to be. Ellie rubs at her nose and tries to sneakily rub under her eyes. They're dry. It's all good.]
I think she's sleepy.
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I gotta head on out back to the car, grab a few things that I bought while I was out. How 'bout you take her out to the grassy area out back? She's a puppy, so she's gonna pee a lot. Gonna have to keep an eye on that.
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C'mon, Lucy. Let's go outside.
[She has no idea how to raise a puppy.]
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I'll be out back in a minute, alright? Just keep an eye on her, don't let her go runnin' off.
[Joel makes his way down the stairs out to the car, where he grabs out some bags of puppy food, a dog bed, a few chew toys, a couple of dog bowls... He went all out, making sure they have the essentials. When he returns upstairs, he dumps everything in the middle of their bedroom for now to be sorted out a bit later, and he grabs up a stiff tug rope toy to take down with him out the back.
Once he's back downstairs, he pushes open the back door and strolls out, clutching the toy in his hands, and he silently watches Ellie and the dog from where he's standing.]
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Shh. She's sleeping.]
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He turns his eyes on Ellie.]
Saw an ad in the newspaper when I was down the coffee shop this morning that there were puppies for sale. Decided I had to at least go and check it out.
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[Slowly, Joel eases himself from crouching down onto the grass, and he droops his arms loosely around his knees drawn up near his chest.]
She's apparently a Rottweiler-German Sherpherd cross. [Not that that probably means anything to Ellie.] Gonna be a big dog once she's fully grown.
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