June 25 2014
He woke, startled, sweat dripping down his face and the back of his neck. The sound of explosions ringing in his memory. The dust, the ground shaking, yells of his comrades and brothers in arms, the feel of blood on his arms and his head, sometimes his own, sometimes not. Oliver gasped for a breath that he was sure he could not take in, he wiped his arms with his hands, hoping to rid his body of the death of his friends, but it was not there, it was a dream, or a nightmare, truly, if he were being honest.
"Ollie, you okay?" the voice of his sister broke through his haze. Thea stood in his doorway, in her PacMan pajamas, a look of concern on her impossibly innocent face.
"Sorry Speedy, I'm fine" he answered with as much truth as he could muster.
"You're not fine Ollie" she took a deep breath and continued on, " I heard you scream across the house," she took a breath and continued on "Who's Dig?"
Olivers heart stopped. He never thought to hear that name again, especially not from his teenage sister. He realized he must have said it in his sleep. He knew he could not blow her off at this point, he had done that for the last 4 weeks since his return, she deserved an answer.
"Digg was one of my friends. He was with me when Sarah alerted on the IED. He's gone, so is she." He turned his head and tried to go back to sleep, hoping against hope that his sister would get the hint and go back to her bed. Instead he felt the side of his mattress give to her weight and her hand caress his back for a brief moment.
"I am so sorry Ollie" the catch in her voice turned him around. He grabbed her hand, not knowing what else he could do. He knew she was trying, but he also realized there was nothing she could do to make him feel better. Nothing anyone could do to ease the pain. His friends were gone, it was his fault. Nothing could change that.
June 25, 2014
Felicity had always been a dog lover. She had never been allowed to have one as a child, her mother was deathly allergic, but she had always wanted one. Now, she was an adult, she had moved away, far away, after graduating from MIT (top of her class), and settled into a new townhouse in Starling City. And now, by goodness, she was getting a dog!
But she had no idea what kind of dog to get. Small, large, protective, loving, fluffy, short haired, she was at a loss. Felicity spent hours looking on for just the right dog. But even with all of the amazingly adorable faces, none jumped out at her. None screamed "you are my new mom Felicity". She laughed at her ridiculousness (was that even a word?), a dog was a dog. But still she felt that the perfect pet was out there. She just had to keep looking.
"Seriously, how can there be so many dogs that need homes?" she shook her head while trolling the too many adoptable dogs pages on the internet. "I mean really? That dog is adorable? Who would give them up?" her faith in mankind lessening with each scroll though the adoptable dog pages. It had been a month and she was no closer to finding the dog that captured her heart, than when she started her search.
An alert caught her attention. She had been tagged in a post, not being able to ignore it; she clicked on the alert, which took her to a separate page.
"MWD Danny and Sarah need homes." Felicity shook her head and looked to who had tagged her, it was her mother. Of course.
"What's an MWD?" Felicity asked out loud to the empty room? A quick google search led her to a page dedicated to the rehoming of Military Working Dogs.
"Oh hell no, I can't handle a military dog" Felicity thought to herself, as she scrolled though the page. "I need a nice calm easy going pet" she said to herself, but her fingers kept clicking on pages of ex-military dogs that needed homes. There were so many. One stood out from the rest. A Malinois named "Sara". Felicity could not help but be drawn to her picture.
"Sara is an 8 yo spayed female Malinois that served as a bomb detection dog in Afghanistan and Iraq, protecting our troops from IED and being credited with saving multiple lives. Due to injuries acquired in the filed ad her age, Sara was released for adoption. She is an outgoing dog, who needs an active home with working K9 experience. We have reached out to former handlers, but at this time, none are able to adopt Sara, please don't let her become another military statistic. Sara is fully recovered from injuries she recieved while deployed and would make an excellent companion to the right home." Felicity stared at the dog's picture, the black mask, slightly greyed; the pleading eyes and felt her heart jump. This was her dog. She just knew it. But she had zero "working dog experience"
"What the hell" she said to herself, she was going to apply for her. 4 pages of questions later and Felicity hit "send" on her application for the MWD known as Sara. Now it was a waiting game.
June 25, 2014
"Mom I need the truth, what happened to Digg and what happened to Sara?" Oliver was pissed, he got the feeling, from his family, that they were not telling him important details and he needed to know what had happened to his unit.
"Oliver, I need you to calm down" his mother tried to remain relaxed.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" his breath came in short gasps, his ribs hurt and his head pounded, but he needed the truth. "What happened to them mom, please, just…I need to know" he hoped his pleading face broke her, as it always had; and this time was no different.
"Oliver, I need you to understand that this was for your own good, we were trying to help you heal and get better," she hesitated and Oliver broke in,
"Just fuckin tell me" he knew, in his heart, that there could only be bad news.
"Digg survived the blast" his mother said so quietly that he almost did not hear her. "But he was badly injured, he nearly lost his left arm and his left leg, he is in a rehab facility in Texas right now."
"I need to see him" he answered the revelation, "NOW!" he was surprised by his vehemence, but it was justified. Dig had saved his life, on more occasions than he could count. He was his best friend; he needed to be there for him.
"I don't think that's wise" his mother answered, disapproval ringing in her voice.
"Why the hell not?"
"Son, I know you want to see you friend"
"You have no idea what I am going through" he interrupted with a growl he was sure did not belong to him. "How dare you keep this from me for 2 weeks? 2 weeks!" his voice getting louder with each word.
"Oliver, I know you are hurting,"
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM FEELING!" His anger boiled over. He wanted to reach out and strangle her, even moving his hands out to mimic the gesture. The look on his mothers face stopped him. Horrified, he drew back his hands and looked away. His shame at the desire to physically hurt his own mother overwhelmed him.
"Honey, I can't pretend to know what you have been through, but I am here. I will find out about Digg, Ok?"
Ashamed, Oliver hung his head and nodded towards his mother. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as she slinked out the room, never turning her back on him.
August 9, 2014
"Miss Smoak, thank you for talking with me today. I am Sonja, a volunteer with the Warrior Dog Foundation and I will be processing your application." Felicity rubbed her sweating hands on her jeans and held the phone to her ear.
"I just have a few basic questions to make sure that you are a good fit for Sara."
"Sure, no problem" Felicity answered. She had not been this nervous since her first date with Connor in college.
"Ok, so… Sara needs an experienced home. But I see in your application that you have never owned a dog before…" the question was left hanging and Felicity knew this was her chance, to get out or to be all in.
"No, I have never been allowed to own a dog before. My mother was allergic. But I recently moved to a new town, have a good job and great house and I think I am ready for a dog."
"But you have no experience with working dogs?" Felicity could hear the disapproval in the woman's voice.
"No ma'am, I don't." she could hear the sigh on the other end of the line and knew she was getting shut down. Felicity trudged forward, never one ot give up in the face of adversity.
"I may not have experience with working dogs, but I am willing to learn. In fact, I have been going every night to dog training classes, I have been attending dog trials, I joined the Belgian Malinois Club and have been talking to working dog handlers and sport dog handlers and have been out to tests and trial and trainings. I am not experienced, but that's ok. I am willing to learn, I love learning. I know I have no idea what I am doing, but I can learn, I want to learn, I want to learn with Sara. Please, don't rule me out because I have no experience. You can't get experience without a first dog. Sara deserves someone to fight for her, like she fought for her handlers. Please Sonja, I can do this. I am ready, I am willing, I can do this, just give me the chance to give this girl the home she deserves." The silence hung in the air, Felicity was sure that she had been hung up on, but finally a voice from the other end came through.
"I can't guarantee anything, but I will finish your application, good luck Miss Smoak." With that the phone call was done and Felicity was set to wait. She just knew in her heart that this was her dog.