A Dog's Life #2
A Criminal Minds fanfic
G
Roxy, Alvez
She woke up, rolled over and sighed resignedly. He was late. Again. Getting up from her bed, she padded down the hallway and made her way to the front of the house. A look out the picture window in the living room told her it was dark outside.
Big long sleep time, she noted, even though she'd just awakened from a nap. Yawning, she wandered into the kitchen to get a drink. Master Luke should be home by now occurred to her as she lapped at the almost empty water bowl next to her empty food dish.
A series of sudden explosions hurt her ears and she ran back to the front window to investigate. The sounds continued sporadically, not in any sort of pattern, but Roxy noted they were accompanied by grand displays of colours in the sky. This isn't how it was when Master Luke and I worked together in the desert. She heard the crying of the little humans that lived in the apartment across the courtyard from Master Luke's residence. Her ears twitched as she recognised the cry of Bartie, the little mongrel who lived with those humans.
The noises continued, as did the splashes of colour in the sky and she felt a twinge of sympathy for Bartie. His people had opened the door to admire the sky-colours and Bartie had slipped outside. She watched as he ran through the courtyard and tried to find a place to hide from the sounds. Panicked by the noises, Bartie tried to dig a hole beneath some flowers planted next to a bush in a far corner of the yard.
Used to those sounds from her time in Iraq with Alvez, Roxy didn't fear the noises but her compassionate nature caused her to bark reassurances out to the little mutt. He appeared not to hear her as his digging grew more desperate and Roxy pawed at the window's glass and whined when Bartie finally disappeared into the hole he'd dug.
The humans seemed to be enjoying the explosions and sky-colours and Roxy sighed. Don't you see how upset Bartie is? She wondered. She barked the question out at the bigger humans but nobody paid her any attention. A particularly whiny sounding series of explosions made even Roxy wince and she heard other neighbourhood dogs whining in reaction.
One of the littlest humans let out a wail at the latest noise and Roxy barked again then stopped abruptly as she noted the biggest female human picked up the crying little one and took her back inside.
Nobody seemed to care that Bartie was afraid and hiding and Roxy barked furiously when the humans all reentered their home. What about Bartie?! She barked angrily Somebody find Bartie and let him know it's okay!
Frustrated, Roxy paced back and forth from the front door to the picture window, repeating her angry barks each time. On the fourth return to the front door, she stopped as she heard the key in the lock.
Luke opened the door and Roxy jumped up on him, licking his face and barking excitedly.
"Sorry I'm so late, Roxy girl, just give me a second here and I'll take you out—" he stopped speaking when she pushed past him and raced out the door. Turning quickly, he dropped the bag he was carrying and rushed out after her.
"Roxy! Roxy where you goin', girl?" He followed her across the yard and caught up to her at the corner of the yard, where she'd poked her nose into a small hole under a bush.
Dropping to his knees, Luke pushed his way beside her and found the whimpering Bartie.
"Aw, buddy. Come here, Bartie, I'm not gonna hurt you," Luke cajoled, sliding his hands in beside the distraught dog. "Those big bad fireworks scaring you, aren't they?"
He managed to extricate the frightened pup from his hiding place and Roxy yipped soothingly at Bartie. The smaller dog stopped whimpering and yowled a short reply to Roxy. Rising to his feet, Alvez snuggled Bartie in his arms, speaking comfortingly to him.
"Roxy knew you were scared, didn't she?" Turning his head, he addressed his own dog, "Good girl, Rox, helping your friend like this. Let's get Bartie home." He stroked the littler dog's head and continued to reassure him as another blast of fireworks exploded overhead. Immediately, Bartie stiffened again and whined, and Alvez cuddled him closer against his chest, "It's okay, buddy, it's okay. Nothing's gonna hurt you. They do sound loud and scary, don't they?"
Slowly he walked to the neighbour's apartment and knocked on the door, Roxy padding along beside him. As the door opened, another explosions sounded overhead and another cascade of colour brightened the night sky.
"Oh, man. Bartie! You little escape artist!" The man reached for the dog and Alvez handed him over gently.
"Poor little guy's afraid of the fireworks," Alvez said. His neighbour nodded in agreement.
"Guess he musta slipped out when we came out to watch them." He hugged the dog and assured Bartie, "I'm sorry you got spooked buddy." He stroked the dog's head several times and then addressed Alvez and Roxy, "Thanks for finding him and bringing him home." He reached down with one hand and patted Roxy's head, "Thanks, girl."
He waved at them and reentered his residence and Luke turned to his own dog.
"Good girl, Rox. Good girl. Now, let's take you for a nice late night walk before we turn in ourselves."
He led the way back to their place, quickly grabbed the dog's leash and after clipping it in place, they left for the nearby park. After a couple of laps around the lit section of the city green space, man and dog returned home.
Alvez filled Roxy's bowl with fresh water and set it down on the floor for her. She took a long drink and then followed him back out to the hallway where he'd dropped his bag earlier.
"See what I have for you, Rox?" Luke asked her as he rifled through the bag and his hand came up with a small box. "Garcia made this for you, Rox. Look!"
At the sound of her friend's name, Roxy's tail wagged and she sniffed at the box. Something inside smelled tasty! she thought and panted expectantly, sitting down and waiting for her cue.
"It's a pupcake, Rox! Garcia thought of you for Memorial Day. You were a service animal and she felt you deserved recognition too. So she made this for you."
He unwrapped it and set it down in her bowl while explaining, "Now I realise it's Memorial Day not Veterans Day but Garcia wanted to do something nice so we're gonna let that slide, right girl?"
Roxy gave a short yip and waited for Luke to give her the go ahead. He patted her head and laughed.
"Go ahead, girl, you deserve this!"
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